Hollande beats Sarkozy in election first round

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has lost the first round of the presidential election to his socialist rival Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy won only 27.1% of the vote compared to Hollande on 28.6%, making it the first time a sitting president has lost in the first round. Marine Le Pen took the largest share of the vote her far-right National Front has ever won with 18.1%, putting her in third place. Hollande and Sarkozy will now face each other in a second round of voting on 6 May with the state of the economy and how to deal with the eurozone crisis key battle grounds. Hollande said he was "best placed to become the next president of the republic" and Sarkozy had been punished by voters, the BBC reports. "...