Ireland's Sinn Fein rules out joining government as junior party

LONDONDERRY, March 6 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's leading opposition party, Sinn Fein, on Friday ruled out joining a coalition government as junior partner after elections due early next year.

Formerly the political wing of the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group, Sinn Fein has gone from having five of the 166 seats in Ireland's parliament before the 2008 financial crisis to being one of the most popular two parties, according most opinion polls taken in recent months.

On Friday, the party's membership passed a motion preventing it from serving as junior coalition partner to either of the country's two dominant right-wing parties -- prime minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. No party is expected to secure enough votes to rule alone.

The motion did not mention Ireland's fourth most popular party, the centre-left Labour Party. It has had less than half of Sinn Fein's support in recent opinion polls and is not seen as a contender to win the election.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Larry King)