The German Chancellor is under pressure herself after this weekend's disappointing local election results.
Neither party is confidently predicting victory at this stage in the local election campaign.
Now local election officials are trying to put the breaks on that bill.
Like all local election results these will be endlessly interpreted by the pundits.
The local election in 1997 saw republicans filling 13 seats and becoming the joint largest party alongside the UUP.
BBC: News | UK Politics | Rival NI parties to share top jobs
You know what I can say about the Conservatives, I think we fought a very good local election campaign.
The British National Party is predicting "one or two surprises" when the results of Thursday's English local election are revealed.
The Green Party has launched its local election manifesto, promising to reduce the gap between rich and poor and create jobs.
Mr Hain chaired Labour's local election campaign in Wales and will be able to say he's going out on a high.
The Green Party, so often the fourth contender in local election races, now faces a very serious rival for that spot in UKIP.
Bhutto's death was followed by widespread violence and the destruction of many local election offices, which may give the commission cause for postponement.
CNN: Decision on Pakistan election delayed; new video emerges
But at the launch of the Conservatives' local election campaign on North Tyneside, Mr Cameron said the government now had a "time horizon".
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Algiers after the pro-government National Democratic Rally won most of the seats at last week's local election.
During questions to the first minister, Ms Wood accused Mr Jones of keeping an NHS reshuffle under wraps until after the local election this Thursday.
If you're a Republican you want it to be a local election, and if you're a Democrat you want it to be a national election.
He too pulled off a pretty good local election performance this time four years ago - but still went on to lose the general election.
So more than 15 hours after polls closed, what are we to make of the local election results in the North East and Cumbria?
It was Liberal Democrat strategist Chris Rennard who first pointed out an unusual fact about the Eastleigh constituency after the local election results last May.
Set in a small town in the West Country where a local election divides the apparently cosy community, Rowling's new book has also divided critics.
This is the practice of the SBE and local election boards for independent candidates (the state or locality checks those petitions in the absence of a party).
FORBES: Why Is It So Difficult To Qualify For the Virginia Presidential Primary Ballot?
It's not yet clear exactly when Mr Miliband will depart - although the smart money assumes he will time his leaving to allow a by-election on local election day.
Mr Brunerie is said to have a number of links to far-right organisations, standing as a local election candidate for the National Republican Movement (MNR), an offshoot of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front.
Away from the chamber, Plaid have been working hard on sharpening up their campaigning machine on the ground after the Assembly and local election losses, including learning lessons from the SNP's victories in Scotland.
Hot topics at a recent local election included divisive races for the board of selectmen, and whether to build an outdoor track for the high school and a building with facilities for maintenance workers at the cemetery.
The last local election was held in Wiltshire four years ago, when the county council and North Wiltshire, Kennet, Salisbury and West Wiltshire district councils came together to form a unitary authority - Wiltshire Council.
Mr Crawford says the SNP will now be scrutinising the local election data, trying to work out where people's second preference votes went and whether they can persuade Labour voters to think about supporting independence.
Cavite provincial Governor Jonvic Remulla told AP that Mr Bae had left Kawit about a year ago after losing the local election, but returned on Monday following a row with his wife in northern Pampanga province.
These local election results thus provide a clear warning to Britain's political establishment that if voters continue to face a choice between a disappointing government and a less than credible opposition, they may well turn to alternatives.
ECONOMIST: Local election results: A plague on all your houses | The
UKIP's local election manifesto, concentrates on its flagship policy of ending "open door" immigration and putting pressure on the government not to lift restrictions on workers from Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January, which proved a successful formula in Eastleigh.
应用推荐