US election 2016: Super Tuesday To Test Candidates

                                

Candidates bidding for their party's nomination in the US presidential election face their biggest test yet in the "Super Tuesday" primary polls.

Eleven states cast votes for candidates from either the Republican or Democratic parties or both in a contest seen as make-or-break for the hopefuls.

Contests stretch from Vermont in the east to Texas and Georgia in the south.

Donald Trump leads the Republican field and Hillary Clinton is ahead in the Democratic race.

There have been earlier votes in four states.

The first Super Tuesday polls opened in Virginia at 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT).

Senator Ted Cruz cannot afford to lose to Mr Trump in Texas, Mr Cruz's home state, while a reverse for Mr Trump in Massachusetts, with its moderate voters, could break the property tycoon's nationwide momentum.

Mrs Clinton is hoping to build on her weekend victory in South Carolina, where she polled heavily among African-Americans, to restore her political fortunes after a bruising defeat in New Hampshire to Bernie Sanders, her self-styled democratic socialist rival.

On 8 November, America is due to elect a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.

Opinion polls give Mr Trump a lead in almost all of the 11 states holding Republican contests on Tuesday: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Alaska and Minnesota.

The colourful campaign of the billionaire, who won three of the four early voting states, has divided Republicans.

On the eve of the polls, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse became the highest-ranked elected party member to come out and say he would not back him for president.

He said he was "frustrated and saddened" and would look for a third option if Mr Trump won the Republican nomination.

As he voted in Texas, Mr Cruz turned his fire on Mr Trump: "The only campaign that is in a position to beat Donald Trump on Super Tuesday is our campaign.

"And if you don't want to see Donald Trump as the nominee, if you don't want us to give this election to Hillary Clinton, then I ask you to stand with us today."