Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen says he will call an early national election next year once Ireland passes an emergency budget and negotiates a massive EU-IMF bailout.
Cowen resisted pressure to resign immediately Monday after his coalition partner, the Green Party, said it would quit the government and force an early election in January. Several lawmakers in Cowen’s own Fianna Fail party also called on him to go.
But Cowen said he wouldn’t quit now because that would delay Ireland’s deficit-slashing 2011 budget and the bailout negotiations.
Cowen said he would call an election once the budget is fully passed but declined to specify any date. Several budget votes aren’t expected until late January or February.