Hollande Wins French Runoff Vote, Ousts Sarkozy

Socialist Francois Hollande looks like the likely winner of France's tightly-contested runoff election today, according to early exit polls, defeating conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande edged out Sarkozy in the first round of voting, and early returns show him up with between 52% and 53% of the vote. Sarkozy, meanwhile, has between 46.7% and 48% of the results, reports the Wall Street Journal. "It's going to be a long day," Hollande said at his polling station, according to the BBC. "It's up to the French people to decide if it's going to be a good day." Voting ends at 2pm Eastern. (More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)