Labour has governed since the first assembly in 1999 and went into the election holding 30 of the assembly's 60 seats.
It may also decide whether Gerhard Schröder, the local Social Democratic premier, gets a shot at running for Mr Kohl's job.The ebullient Mr Schröder, a man of rugged charm with an eloquence few (certainly not Mr Kohl) can match, has long looked too big for the drearily self-effacing state he has governed since 1990, at first in coalition with the Greens but later alone.
He did not pledge to carry out a military strike or indeed to take this option off the table, but the way he has governed in his first term indicates that Barack Obama does not want the United States to play direct military roles anywhere.
Along with its allies, the EPRDF, which has governed Africa's second most populous nation for more than two decades, also won a near clean sweep in regional state councils, winning all but 21 of the 1,987 seats.
Prime Minister Robert Fico's leftist Smer-Social Democracy party, which has governed since 2012, finished first with 28percentt of the vote on Saturday, according to the national Statistical Office, but to form a new government, it will be forced to seek support among several other parties.
After losing two elections in a row, the Liberal Party, which has governed Canada for two-thirds of this century, is taking its time in choosing a new leader.
Since the first debate two weeks ago, the Conservatives have consistently led the narrow spread in the polls, with the surging Liberal Democrats in second, and Labour, the party that has governed Britain since 1997, consistently rated third.
José Serra, the choice of the centrist multiparty coalition that has governed Brazil since 1995, is second with 21percentt, followed by Anthony Garotinho of the Brazilian Socialist Party at 15percentt and Ciro Gomes of the Popular Socialist Party with 11percentt.
Pierre Nkurunziza, who has caused controversy with his decision to run for a presidential third term, has governed Burundi for nearly 10 years.
The United Nations, which has governed East Timor since 1999 when four-fifths of its people voted to end 24 years of Indonesian military occupation, says the first results of the election will not be released before next week.
