Conservative Duque leading presidential vote, but runoff likely

BOGOTA, Colombia — Results for Colombia's first presidential election since the signing of an historic peace accord were trickling in Sunday following a contentious campaign in which voters no longer focused on defeating leftist rebels weighed issues corruption, inequality and crime.

Preliminary tallies with 85 percent of polling stations reporting put former senator Ivan Duque in first place with about 39.7 percent of the vote. The race for second place was tight between leftist Gustavo Petro and former Medellin mayor Sergio Fajardo.

Conservative Duque, the protg of President Alvaro Uribe, the chief critic of the peace deal, has led polls throughout the campaign and is promising to amend important aspects of the accord like ensuring that drug trafficking is not an amnestied crime.

Petro had led the race for a spot in a June run-off if Duque is unable to secure the more than 50 percent of votes required to win in the first round. His anti-establishment message has galvanized youth voters upset over corruption and income inequality. Critics have warned the former guerrilla and ex-Bogota mayor's rise could push Colombia dangerously toward the left.

Long lines of voters gathered in Bogota outside polling centers on an overcast day and police frisked people in at least one site - a legacy perhaps of when voting centers were targeted by leftist rebels who considered the political system a sham.