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Colombia's President Santos to face Zuluaga in run-off vote Colombia election: Santos to face Zuluaga in run-off
(about 9 hours later)
Official results from Colombia's presidential election say the incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos will face his main rival, Oscar Zuluaga, in a run-off next month. Colombian ex-finance minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga has won the first round of the presidential election, ahead of incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos.
Neither of the two centre-right candidates secured more than 50% of votes needed to avoid a second round. Both fell far short of the 50% plus one needed to avoid a second round and will now face each other again on 15 June.
The election could decide whether peace talks with Farc rebels will continue.The election could decide whether peace talks with Farc rebels will continue.
Mr Santos supports them as the best way to end Colombia's 50-year civil war, but Mr Zuluaga prefers a tougher line. Mr Santos supports them as the best way to end Colombia's 50-year-long armed conflict, but Mr Zuluaga prefers a tougher line.
With 99.57% of the votes counted, Mr Zuluaga won the first round with 29.27%, followed by Mr Santos with 25.63%. The other three candidates trailed at least 10 percentage points behind. Slim lead
Mr Zuluaga needed 50% plus 1 vote to win outright, and will now face Mr Santos, who finished second, in a 15 June run-off election. With almost all of the votes counted, Mr Zuluaga was ahead with 29.25%, followed by Mr Santos with 25.69%.
Correspondents say that, although Mr Santos has presided over one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies, support for his re-election had fallen especially among poor Colombians who have not benefitted as much from the economic boom. The other three candidates trailed at least 10 percentage points behind.
Differences The policies of the two leading candidates differ little except for their stance on the peace process with Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
Both conservative candidates were once cabinet colleagues under former President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), when they backed a free trade agreement and close anti-narcotics cooperation with the United States. Mr Santos - who initiated the negotiations that formally started 18 months ago in the Cuban capital, Havana - says he hopes to sign a deal with the Farc before the end of the year.
But they differ on how to manage an 18-month peace process with the Farc, Colombia's largest rebel group, a process which President Santos began in 2012. But Mr Zuluaga has been critical of the talks, accusing President Santos of being soft on the rebels.
He has said he hopes to sign a peace treaty with the left-wing rebels this year. "We cannot allow the Farc to attempt to command the country from Havana," he told his supporters.
But his main challenger, who has the support of Mr Uribe, has dismissed the talks as pandering to terrorists and suggested he would scrap them in favour of tougher military campaigns. A president "cannot and should not be manipulated by the Farc", he said.
The peace negotiations have so far yielded agreements on three items of a six-point agenda, including on the illegal drug trade. President Santos said that on 15 June, Colombians would have to choose "between those who want an end to the war and those who prefer a war without end".
On 16 May, the Colombian government and the Farc, which controls large areas of rural Colombia, agreed to eliminate all illicit drug production in the country should a final peace deal be reached. Abstentionism
The peace process, hosted by Cuba, seeks to end Latin America's longest running conflict. Conservative candidate Marta Lucia Ramirez came third with 15.52%, and left-winger Clara Lopez was fourth with 15.23%.
An estimated 220,000 people have been killed and more than five million others have been displaced since it erupted in 1964. Who the losing candidates' voters now back may well determine the second-round winner, analysts say.
Clara Lopez is a firm supporter of the peace process, while Ms Ramirez has said that she is against an amnesty for Farc rebels and does not want to see "the Farc criminals" becoming legislators.
Both President Santos and Mr Zuluaga will also try to galvanise some of the 60% of eligible voters who abstained, the highest rate in the past two decades.
More than 220,000 people are estimated to have died in Colombia's five-decade-long armed conflict and many Colombians are getting increasingly impatient with the pace of the peace talks.
So far, negotiators have achieved agreement on three key issues: land reform, political participation of the rebels and illicit drugs.
They have yet to discuss disarmament, victims' rights and the eventual implementation of the peace deal.
Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said it had been "the safest election day in recent history", helped by the fact that both the Farc, and Colombia's second largest rebel group, the ELN, had declared a temporary ceasefire.