Europe, Elections | featured news

The two contenders for the French presidency entered the final day of campaigning Friday, with opinion polls giving challenger Francois Hollande the edge over President Nicolas Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was narrowly beaten into second place in presidential elections Sunday, as the National Front candidate Marine Le Pen posted the best result ever for a far-right candidate, the Interior Ministry announced with all the votes counted Monday.

Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France's presidential race wide open on Sunday by scoring nearly 20 percent in the first round - votes that may determine the runoff between Socialist favorite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France's presidential election race resumes on Friday, irrevocably altered by the killing of an al Qaeda-inspired gunman whose murders have shifted the political debate in favor of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have suffered a loss in elections in her home state, exit polls suggest.

DUBLIN, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A gay senator who was the front-runner to win Ireland's figurehead presidency quit the race on Tuesday after admitting he used his office to plead for clemency for a friend convicted of having sex with a minor.

The demonstrations have overshadowed regional and municipal elections that were expected to result in a defeat for the governing Socialist Party.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced Saturday that he has resigned as leader of Ireland's dominant Fianna Fail party but intends to keep leading the government through the March 11 election.

With the British vote ending in a hung Parliament for the first time since the 1970s, several possibilities could now play out.

Polish opposition party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Monday he will run in summer elections to replace his twin brother, the incumbent president who was killed in a plane crash.