Sarkozy loses first French presidential poll to Hollande
The socialist candidate Francois Hollande has beaten the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of the French presidential elections.
Both men will now go through to a second round run-off vote on 6 May to decide who wins the keys to the Elysee palace.
But, as the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Paris, the big winner of Sunday's vote was Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front party, which came third with its largest ever share of the vote.
23 Apr 2012
- From the section Europe