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DUBLIN (AP) — Politicians issued their final appeals for support Thursday on the eve of Ireland's election, a contest that could produce a hung parliament and political instability in Europe's main success story for austerity. Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton shared a pot of tea at a Dublin restaurant as they asked voters to keep their 5-year-old coalition government intact. Polls consistently suggest they'll lose their majority position in parliament and will need more allies to remain in office. Kenny and Burton have struggled during the past three weeks of door-to-door campaigning to win credit for Ireland's unexpectedly rapid rebound from a 2010 international bailout, the crisis that brought them to power five years ago. Unemployment in Ireland has fallen to a seven-year low of 8.9 percent amid the country's return to Europe-leading growth. But many voters say they've yet to feel relief following years of soul-sapping cuts and tax hikes, including unpopular new charges on property and water. "We've come through some calamitous and troubling times. We've restored our sovereignty, our credibility, our integrity. We've come a long way in the right direction but we need to finish the job," Kenny said. Analysts said ballots from Friday's vote could take all weekend to count, with the full picture of Ireland's 158-seat Dail Eireann not known until Monday. Polls forecast that Kenny's centrist Fine Gael will suffer losses but remain the largest party. But Burton's left-wing Labour Party faces potential obliteration, with Burton even at risk of losing her own Dublin seat as working-class voters back small socialist parties and anti-austerity independents. The most commonly predicted outcome would require Fine Gael to form an unprecedented coalition with its political nemesis, Fianna Fail, which led Ireland to the brink of bankruptcy in 2011 but has risen steadily in this month's polls. The two parties trace their roots to the 1922-23 civil war that followed Ireland's war of independence from Britain. Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin both have rejected this idea, citing irreconcilable differences. They likewise have ruled out cooperation with Friday's likely third-place party, the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein. "You can't trust 'em," Kenny said of Fianna Fail. "I have no intention of doing a deal with Micheal Martin. His party wrecked this economy." Irish political analyst Sean Donnelly said, based on polls and decades of past trends, he expects Fine Gael to win 49 seats, Fianna Fail 40, Sinn Fein 22, Labour eight, and fringe parties and independents the rest. A governing majority would require the support of at least 79 lawmakers. Ireland's complex system of proportional representation allows voters to pick several candidates in order of preference to fill several seats in districts. Calculating the results from paper ballots can take more than a dozen rounds, with the winner of each district's final seat sometimes determined by a handful of votes following laborious recounts.

Ireland risks hung parliament, impasse after election Friday