Presidential Elections

The ruling party's hopes that weekend elections in Nigeria would be accepted as credible were dampened Sunday when local observers and the main opposition parties condemned what they said was vote-rigging and called for a repeat of the balloting. Germany, which currently holds the European Union presidency, issued a statement raising doubts on whether Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections were free and fair after EU observers expressed concern over irregularities.

In a bid to revive his troubled presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain took broadsides at the Bush administration Wednesday, for its handling of the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina and its treatment of wounded veterans. The Arizona Republican also joined the ranks of lawmakers calling for Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, a longtime Bush aide, to resign.

Sen. John McCain presented a memento to fellow Republican Sen. Ted Stevens when they met in the Senate earlier this year: a key chain with a small battery-operated pig's head. "You're still an oinker," the presidential candidate told Stevens, the Alaskan renowned for legislative pork that benefits his state. A Stevens spokesman said the gesture was taken in good humor, though McCain's crusades against federal waste have pricked Stevens before. That is perhaps as nicely as McCain plays.

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen urged supporters to abstain from Sunday's presidential runoff rather than vote for front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy or Socialist Segolene Royal. "I invite the voters who showed their confidence in me to give their vote neither to Madame Royal nor to Mr. Sarkozy," Le Pen told thousands of supporters at a rally in Paris to commemorate Joan of Arc.

Presidential candidates Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy clashed Wednesday night in a televised debate seen as the last big round of the campaign, dueling vigorously about crime, the economy and the future of France. The estimated 20 million viewers rivaled the size of an audience for a World Cup soccer game, reflecting widespread interest in the runoff election Sunday.

The Taliban extended its deadline for reaching a deal on the release of a French hostage until after today's French presidential election. The Taliban leadership council put off Saturday's deadline as a sign of mercy, purported Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammed Yousuf said by phone from an undisclosed location. "We have extended it until the elections are over," Yousuf said.

French politicians are masters of nuance who choose their words carefully, so it is striking that both candidates in today's presidential runoff election have talked a lot about a country in crisis. "France is undergoing an unprecedented identity crisis," says Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-right candidate who is considered the front-runner. "Her model of integration has broken down, her social model is failing, her cohesion crumbles. A terrible doubt overcomes her.

Alaska and Georgia joined the growing list of states pushing up their presidential primaries and caucuses to Feb. 5, a date shaping up as a national primary day for Republicans and Democrats. In Alaska, caucuses will be held Feb. 5. In 2004, Alaska Democrats held their caucus in March and Republicans waited until the end of May. "We wanted to make sure Alaska had a reasonable standing in the public debate," said Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the Republican Party of Alaska.

India named its first female president Saturday after weeks of acrimonious campaigning that touched on sensitive issues such as political corruption, partisan gamesman ship and women's rights. Federal and state legislators elected Pratibha Patil to the largely ceremonial post, making this country the world's largest to boast a female head of state. The last woman to serve that function for India was Queen Victoria, during the days of the British Raj.

Iowa carved out its place on the political map in the 1970s, when longshots George McGovern and Jimmy Carter used strong showings in the state to power their campaigns to the Democratic nomination. Tradition has helped the state maintain its first-in-the-nation status. But every four years, politicians in other states protest that Iowa is too small (roughly 1% of the U.S. population) and too white (about 95%) to properly represent the rest of the nation.