Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday survived a confidence vote to remain as leader of Ireland's ruling Fianna Fáil party.
Cowen, widely credited for bringing about Ireland's recent economic situation, has become the first party leader in the world to be subjected to a confidence vote conducted entirely on the social network Twitter.
Supporters of the Fianna Fáil party used the hashtag #FF along with Cowen's Twitter handle @BringBackThePunt to indicate whether they backed Cowen or wanted him gone. Officially, votes had to be cast using the words 'back' or 'sack'.
However, Fianna Fáil party officials soon realised that they had to count other votes which did not include those words. All votes containing overt threats of violence were added to the 'sack' pile but those containing other comments were included in the 'back' tally.
One voter, @peterohanrahanrahanrahan from Cork, tweeted in support of Cowen saying 'that man couldn't even feckin feck in a feckin whorehouse'. Party officials pointed out that this proved how @peterohanrahanrahanrahan approved of Cowen's frugal approach and that he would not spend hard earned money in such an establishment.
Controversially, the Party also counted any reference to 'hanging' as a positive vote because "We hang our flag up a pole and we're very proud of our flag".
In separate news, Father Dougal McGuire has agreed to become Minister of Finance.
