Shackled by the high threshold, pro-Kurdish candidates had previously run as independents in single seats to try to beat the 10% party barrier.
And that includes Democrats, independents and a lot of Republicans across the country, as well as independent economists and budget experts.
The safe bet probably remains on a Fine Gael-Labour coalition after 25 February, but there is still an outside chance that Irish voters could return a new government propped up only by independents from the centre right.
Her popularity and that of her government suffered under an intensive campaign by Abbott against the carbon pricing deal she did with the Greens and independents.
It is a semi-open primary, meaning registered Republicans can vote as well as "undeclareds", often described as independents.
He belongs to the so called "Technical group" of TDs who are by and large leftwing independents.
And a double dissolution election, in which half the normal quota is required to elect Senate candidates, would assist the same minor parties and independents that are playing havoc with the government's budget strategy at the moment.
Although Labour and the Liberal Democrats are not taking part, a record 25 other candidates, including the Green party, English Democrats, Christian party and various independents, have thrown their hats into the ring.
All have vowed to serve out their terms as independents.
Score: 6/10 It's good to support the independents: this is a newish deli and coffee shop surrounded by the chains.
Watt and his co-founder Martin Dickie claimed to represent "the misfits, the independents, the libertines" rather than the business establishment, by spreading ownership of the company to its customers.
