21.   Peter Medgyessy, the Socialist candidate for prime minister, claimed victory.

22.   Parvanov said afterwards that Stoyanov had promised to give Socialist candidate Nikolai Dobrev, interior minister in the outgoing government, the mandate.

23.   Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, from the same Rally for the Republic party as Balladur, has placed second in opinion polls, above any possible Socialist candidate.

24.   A court on Thursday convicted far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen of attacking a Socialist candidate during campaigning for legislative elections last May.

25.   A poll published in the Athens daily Ethnos on Wednesday showed that the most popular Socialist candidate to replace him was no one.

26.   According to the poll by the CSA firm, Juppe would be forced into the second round, defeating Socialist candidate Gilles Savary by four percentage points.

27.   An armed band shoots and kills a socialist candidate and four supporters in northern India in election-related violence.

28.   And the Socialist presidential candidate is headed for a run-off against the Radical leader.

29.   As Socialist candidate Peter Medgyessy cast his ballot, some voters welcomed him with applause, while others were apprehensive.

30.   Assistant Secretary of Justice Teresa de la Vega said the number of female Socialist candidates was unprecedencted in Spanish politics.