Canadian leader wins election - reports

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, the first major world leader to face voters since the global financial meltdown, led his Conservative party to victory in yesterday’s election but was forecast to fall short of a majority in parliament.

The Canadian election agency reported on its website that the Conservatives had won or was leading in races for 143 of parliament’s 308 seats, an improvement over the 127 seats the party had in the previous parliament.