Quebec Premier Jean Charest`s federalist Liberals are closing in on a majority midway through an election campaign in Canada`s mostly French-speaking province, according to a survey Wednesday.

A poll conducted by Leger Marketing for the daily Globe and Mail and the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir put the Liberals ahead of the separatist Parti Quebecois by 11 points.

WARSAW, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Poland's liberal opposition party could secure a solid majority in Sunday's parliamentary elections, according to a new opinion poll published Friday.

The survey by the TNS OBOP institute found that the Civic Platform (PO) could win 250 seats in Poland's 460-member assembly, beating the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Forty-seven percent of those polled said they would vote for PO, while 30 percent said they would back PiS, the movement of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his identical twin President Lech Kaczynski.

SYDNEY, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - An opinion poll published Monday suggests that Australian Prime Minister John Howard faces 'annihilation' in a general election called for next month, a report said.

The latest Newspoll said that Howard will be heavily defeated on November 24, with the opposition Labor party sitting on 56 percent of the vote, compared to 44 percent for the ruling coalition, on a two-party preferred basis.

SYDNEY, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard defied mounting pressure to name an election date Monday as a new opinion poll showed him heading for a landslide defeat.

The opposition Labor Party accuses Howard of delaying the vote while the government pumps millions of dollars into an advertising blitz in a last-ditch bid to turn public opinion -- a charge he denies.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Hillary Clinton has pulled ahead of her Democratic presidential rivals in the early-voting state of Iowa, while screen star Fred Thompson is shaking up the Republican field, a poll out Sunday said.

Success in Iowa and New Hampshire -- the two US states expected to hold the country's first party contests in early January -- is considered a major springboard to each side's White House nomination.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Hillary Clinton leads Republican front-runner Rudolph Giuliani, in a hypothetical, all New York, 2008 showdown for the White House, according to new poll results published Thursday.

The Washington Post-ABC News survey was more good news for the Democratic front-runner, a day after she posted a 33 point lead over her top party rival Barack Obama in the poll, three months before first party nominating contests.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Democrat Hillary Clinton would beat Republican Rudolph Giuliani in the race for the US presidency if the election was held now, according to poll data released Thursday.

Senator Clinton, wife of ex-president Bill Clinton and the strong front-runner for the Democratic nomination for next year's election, held a 51-43 percent margin over Giuliani in a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Hillary Clinton cemented her advantage in the Democratic presidential race Wednesday, basking in a 33 point opinion poll lead over rival Barack Obama and snapping up a key trade union endorsement.

Clinton grabbed support from a majority of Democrats for the first time in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a day after walloping Obama with her latest three-month fundraising total of 27 million dollars.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Hillary Clinton basked Wednesday in a 33 percent opinion poll lead over her top Democratic White House rival Barack Obama, in another coup for her increasingly formidable campaign.

Clinton grabbed support from a majority of Democrats for the first time in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a day after walloping Obama with her latest three month fundraising total of 27 million dollars.

SYDNEY, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Australians value the US alliance but don't like US President George W. Bush and are sceptical about Washington's ability to deal with world problems, according to a national survey released Wednesday.

The survey commissioned by Sydney University's US Studies Centre also showed most Australians opposed their country's involvement in the US-led military campaign in Iraq.