Nicolas Sarkozy

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been handed preliminary charges over suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election bid.

France capped presidential funding to 22.5 million euro (£17.5 million) in 2012.

Sarkozy, who lost out to Francois Holllande, is accused of spending 17 million euro (£13.2 million) over that.

The 61-year-old, who is now France's main opposition leader, has been questioned by prosecutors and could face fraud charges.

Preliminary charges mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed.

But it gives them more time to investigate before deciding whether to send suspects to trial.

Several people close to Mr Sarkozy, including his former top adviser, also face preliminary charges in the case.

Sarkozy has already been fined 364,000 euro (£283,000) for overspending in the case.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has described the terror attack at a gas factory as a "declaration war against France, democracy, and civilisation itself".

Sarkozy released a statement after the attack in which he called for the French public to be resilient.

Election projections for more than 2,000 councils across France show Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party taking the lead, blunting the rise of the far-right National Front.

The initial projections gave the UMP party 31% of the vote compared with 24.5% for the National Front and 19.7% for President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists and their allies.

The Socialists were never expected to do well and had pinned their hopes on a high turnout to counteract the National Front.

Turnout was 51% for the first of two rounds of voting, compared with about 45% in the same elections in 2011.

Marine Le Pen's National Front party has made steady inroads as she tries to build a grassroots army of local officials to buttress her presidential ambitions.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has announced his return to politics, saying he will seek the leadership of the opposition party UMP.

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has addressed a rally in Paris. She told her voters to make their own choice in the May 6th presidential election runoff. The two leading candidates - Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande - have been competing for the votes of her supporters.

Far Right leader Marine Le Pen has told supporters in France to vote as they wish. She said: "You are free citizens", not endorsing Sarkozy.