For the past eight years Longford County Council has been controlled by an unusual political coalition.
In this Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have worked together in what they like to call a "partnership agreement", rotating the chairman and vice-chairman positions between them annually.
This has happened because Longford has a unique political pedigree stretching back to the foundation of the State which has thrown up Independents, republicans - with small and large capital letters - and Fine Gaelers and Fianna Failers.
Last time out, the two major parties failed to achieve an overall majority. Fianna Fail needed two more votes on the council, and Fine Gael three. The Independents would not play ball so the big parties walked away with the goalposts, ball and referee.
The situation has been so confusing over the years that on his recent visit to Longford the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, got it wrong. He urged the party faithful to seek an overall majority on the 21-seat council. That would have been difficult, because only 10 Fine Gael candidates had been declared at that stage. The difficulty has since been rectified.
In Longford's interesting electoral past, for many years the dominant figure was Gen Sean McKeown, which left Fianna Fail out in the cold.
It has a large republican vote. It was the constituency that elected Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh, a native son, to Dail Eireann while he was a guest of the nation in the Curragh Camp during the 1950s.
Local and national eyes will focus on the Republican Sinn Fein candidate, Mr Sean Lynch. He is seeking re-election in the Drumlish electoral area this time out, for the party set up by Mr O Bradaigh, which opposes the Northern peace process.
In recent years the main figure in the county has been the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, who has put a Fianna Fail stamp over it.
The Fianna Fail machine will be carefully monitoring the progress of those most likely to take Mr Reynolds's Dail seat when he quits national politics at the next general election.
No member of his family is going forward in these local elections, but his close political adviser, Mr Peter Kelly, is seeking re-election, signalling his wider intentions.
While the Reynolds dynasty may be fading, the same is not true of the Belton family. Mr Louis Belton, the local Fine Gael TD, is not seeking a council seat but his brother, Paddy, hopes to keep the Belton name alive on the local scene.
The Labour Party is seeking a seat on the council this time out in a county which has no Labour representative among its members. Mr Michael Coffey is running in the Ballymahon electoral area.
The issues in Co Longford are very similar to those in the rest of rural Ireland.
Jobs, roads and the closure of rural post offices are the stuff of this local electoral race. The final outcome could well be the ending of the unique coalition which has operated in the county for so many years.