War-torn Syria on Sunday set May 26 as the date for presidential elections expected to give incumbent President Bashar al-Assad a new term in office.

Leading members of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) are giving their support to party boss Armin Laschet to be the country's next chancellor after elections in September, dpa reported. The autumn polls will see Chancellor Angela Merkel leave the post after over 15 years at the helm.

Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker, has surprisingly won Ecuador's presidential election run-off, news wires reported. His opponent, the left-wing economist Andrés Arauz, conceded defeat hours after polls closed on Sunday. With almost all the ballots counted, Lasso had got 52.5% of the vote compared to Arauz's 47.5%.

GERB will hold 75 seats in the 45th National Assembly. There is Such a People – 51, BSP – 43, MRF – 30, the Democratic Bulgaria Alliance coalition – 27, while the Stand up! Mafiosi out! coalition – 14. The breakdown was revealed after the Central Electoral Commission officially announced the distribution of seats following the 4 April general elections.

A left-wing party that opposes a large rare earth mining project in Greenland has become the biggest in parliament after securing more than a third of votes in a snap election on Tuesday, news wires reported. The Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party got 37%, compared to 26% in the last election four years ago, overtaking the ruling social democratic Siumut party which secured 29% of votes, according to official results.

The Central Electoral Commission on Tuesday released the results of the 4 April general elections based on the processing of 100% of the voting section tally sheets, according to which four coalitions and two parties will be represented in Bulgaria's next parliament.

On Monday, a press conference by international observers of Bulgaria's 45th National Assembly elections was held in Sofia. The use of state resources by the ruling GERB party in the election campaign and limited media coverage of all candidates were among the conclusions made by international observers of the parliamentary vote on Sunday, Bulgarian National Radio reported.

Based on 61.08% of district election commission tally sheets handled by constituency election commissions, the GERB-UDF coalition won Sunday's parliamentary elections in Bulgaria with 25.32% of the vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported on Monday.

The first wave of data on the outcome of today's general elections in Bulgaria has started to trickle in from pollsters. The figures are based on exit polls conducted outside of polling places.

On Sunday, Bulgaria is holding its first regular parliamentary elections since 2009. Balloting is conducted amidst an unprecedented epidemic emergency, which leaves its imprint on all aspects of the process. The polls opened at 7.00am and will close at 8.00pm. By exception, if voters are still waiting outside the polling site at 8.00pm, voting may continue until 9.00pm.