Voters in Colombia went to the polls on Sunday in a tight, three-party presidential election that is expected to go to a second round.
More than 40 million Colombians are eligible to vote in the poll, which includes a leftist candidate promising to expand social reforms, an independent businesswoman portraying herself as an outsider and a right-wing senator who could become the country’s first female president.
Left-leaning Senator Ivan Cepeda, 63, has been leading in opinion polls but looks unlikely to overcome the 50% barrier needed to win an outright majority.
Outgoing President Gustavo Petro cannot seek a second term. He has given his support to Cepeda.
Polls show he will face very tough competition in the second round against independent former lawyer Abelardo de la Esprilla, 47, or right-winger Paloma Valencia, 48, who are expected to split centrist and conservative votes on Sunday.
Colombia: What do the candidates want?
All three candidates are campaigning on promises to tackle armed, drug-wielding guerrilla groups, reduce inequality and poverty, and reform the country’s healthcare system – albeit in different ways.
The leftist Cepeda, the son of a slain communist leader, has promised to make peace with illegal armed cartels through negotiations, a policy that has made little progress under Petro.
On the other hand, both de la Espriella and Valencia have promised a tough crackdown against the groups, with the former proposing the construction of 10 “mega-prisons”.
On poverty and health, Cepeda wants to see wealth distributed more equally by raising taxes on high-income earners to fund the expansion of Colombia’s healthcare system. He has also proposed to gift 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of land to victims of the country’s six-decade internal conflict.
De la Espriella wants to combat inequality by focusing on better education, while Valencia believes that tax breaks for companies would create more jobs and thus lift Colombians out of poverty.
Valencia has also proposed additional funding for social programs and health care – funded not by taxation but by renewed oil and gas exploration.
Polling stations open at 8 a.m. local time (1300 UTC), and results are expected around 8 p.m.
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Edited by: Carl Sexton