Colombia vote pits Uribe ally against ex-mayor

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombians voted on Sunday for a successor to President Alvaro Uribe in the first round of an election pitting a veteran minister who waged war on rebels against an eccentric former mayor vowing to battle corruption.

Front-runners former Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos and two-time Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus both promise to maintain Uribe's security policies and create jobs, but polls predicted that neither would gain the majority needed to avoid a June runoff.

"The best way to respond to terrorists who want to attack democracy is go out and vote," Santos said as he cast his ballot at a school in Bogota. "Every candidate wants to win in the first round, but I would not dare to predict the outcome."

A key U.S. ally in the region, Uribe steps down still popular after two terms dominated by his war against drug-trafficking rebels, and his pro-business approach that increased foreign investment five-fold. He was barred by a constitutional court from seeking a third term.

Santos, one of Uribe's staunchest supporters, has faced unexpected competition from Mockus, who once dropped his pants as a university director to get the attention of unruly students. He surged in support with a Green party campaign against graft and they are now tied in polls.

The two also running close in opinion polls for the June 20 runoff. The four other main candidates are far behind.

Polling stations were busy across the country after one of the most peaceful campaigns in recent history.

With a sunflower, the constitution and a pencil as his symbols, Mockus won support from young and urban voters by promising clean government and education. Santos proved stronger in rural areas once battered by the country's war.

"Just like Colombians have recovered our security, now the priority is to overcome all illegality," Mockus said in a column in El Tiempo newspaper on Sunday.

Their country safer, most Colombians are now more concerned with jobs, education and healthcare than violence, and many are weary of the scandals that marred Uribe's second term.

The next leader inherits better security and investment but also a slow economic recovery, a wide deficit, double-digit unemployment and a trade dispute with Venezuela, where socialist President Hugo Chavez is riled over U.S. influence.

"When you vote you have to think about yourself, you have to think about jobs, that there will be some movement in jobs," said Carlos Rengifo, a construction worker voting in northern Bogota where military police stood guard nearby.

Latin America's No. 4 oil producer and a top coal and coffee exporter, Colombia is enjoying a boom in energy and mining investment, but the next president must manage an influx of commodity dollars that will pressure the peso.

Both front-runners say they will keep pro-market economic policies applauded by investors, and analysts see little long-term impact on the peso or local TES bonds whoever wins.

TURNAROUND UNDER URIBE

Once mired in fighting among paramilitaries, rebels and cocaine lords, Colombia enjoyed a dramatic turnaround under Uribe, whose own father was killed by FARC guerrillas.

Backed by billions of dollars in U.S. aid, Uribe sent troops to reclaim areas once under the control of armed groups, and kidnappings, bombings and massacres dropped sharply.

Fighting continues in remote jungle and mountain regions, and 340,000 soldiers and police were dispatched on Sunday to prevent attacks that have marred previous elections.

Last week nine soldiers were killed when their post was fired on by the Marxist FARC guerrillas in the south west of the country, a region known as a major cocaine corridor. One soldier died in an attack on Sunday.

Poor infrastructure and a weak state presence still affect rural areas, where conflict forces peasants off their land and drug routes make Colombia the world's No. 1 cocaine exporter.

Uribe's last four years were marked by scandals over corruption, investigations into soldiers killing citizens and charges state agents illegally wiretapped his opponents.

Alliances will be key in a second round. As head of Uribe's U Party, Santos will seek out the Conservative and Cambio Radical parties. Mockus, whose Green Party has few seats in Congress, claims the moderate, middle ground.

"There will be fierce competition for the backers of the other candidates," said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson Centre.

Santos would count on strong backing in the Congress where his party is the largest political bloc, but Mockus could struggle to push through ambitious reforms with only a few seats in the legislature.

Santos, a U.S.- and British-educated economist whose great- uncle was president, points to his experience as finance, trade and defence minister. But some voters associate the former newspaper editor with government scandals.

Mockus, the son of Lithuanian immigrants was praised for his fiscal discipline and tough line on crime when he helped turn around once-chaotic Bogota. But critics say his meandering style and lack of national experience show he is not the decisive leader a country like Colombia needs.

(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel, Jack Kimball and Luis Jaime Acosta, editing by Alan Elsner)

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