Colombian presidential polls

Colombians are voting Sunday in a tight presidential election pitting incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos against main rival Oscar Zuluaga.

More than 32 million people are eligible to vote in the election, in which Santos is seeking a second four-year term.

The vote has largely become a referendum on the correct strategy for ending a 50-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than five million others.

Santos launched peace talks with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels in 2012 after eight years of attempts to defeat the insurgency with military means.

Right-winger Zuluaga has criticized the talks as pandering to terrorists, and has indicated he would scrap them in favor of US-backed military campaigns similar to those led by his mentor, former President Alvaro Uribe.

A majority of Colombians support the peace talks, which have so far led to agreements of rural reform, the inclusion of former guerillas in politics and the fight against drug trafficking.

Santos has, however, not called a ceasefire during the negotiations in order to maintain pressure on the guerrillas.

The two main contenders, now bitter rivals after being cabinet colleagues under Uribe, have polled neck-and-neck ahead of the vote, meaning that a June 15 run-off is likely.

Pre-election surveys indicate that the three other candidates on the ballot have little chance of reaching the second round.

tj/lw (AFP, Reuters)