¡¡BOGOTA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The presidential election kicked off on Sunday among tight security enforced by President Alvaro Uribe, who is likely to win his second term.

    Nearly 26.7 million Colombians are eligible to vote for their new president and vice president, whose terms begin on Aug. 7 2006, and run until 2010. Voting began at 08:00 and was scheduled to end at 16:00 local time on Sunday.

    Nearly 319,000 Colombians living overseas would also vote in the presidential polls.

    There are 9,820 polling stations, with a total of 55,510 ballot boxes in 1,098 cities and towns across the country.

    To win the presidency in one round, the candidate will have to win more than 50 percent of the vote. If there is no outright winner, a second round will be held on June 18 between the two leading candidates.

    According to the latest opinion poll, Uribe gained 57 percent of support, followed by Carlos Gaviria Diaz, candidate of the Alternative Democratic Pole party. Horacio Serpa, candidate of the Liberal Party, trailed in third place.

    Uribe, 53, had a support rate of 57.5 percent in previous polls,a marked edge of 36.5 percentage points over his closest rival, leftist senator Carlos Gaviria.

    About 220,000 soldiers and police officers have deployed to secure the election.

    Security was one of the pledges Uribe has made to bring to the violence-torn country.

    Over the past 40 years, about 200,000 lives were lost in political violence. Uribe himself has survived several assassination attempts since taking office in 2002.

    Uribe has been engaged in clamping down on armed left-wing and right-wing groups.

    He said on Saturday that the tough measures against the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) of Colombia will remain in place, but offered the approach of peace negotiations. Enditem