Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003122858
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA LENGTH: Medium
No official results were released Sunday night but all five of Cesar Gaviria's political rivals conceded defeat in the nation's first presidential primary.
The election and others for federal, state and local office followed a night of political violence that left six people dead. A leftist guerrilla from a group trying to disrupt the elections was killed Sunday, military officials said.
In the capital, Bogota, the leader of a leftist group that laid down its arms this week won a surprising 9 percent of the vote in the mayor's race, according to an exit poll.
Gaviria, 43, won more than 58 percent of the votes cast in the race for the centrist Liberal Party presidential nomination, a wide margin over his rivals, according to an exit poll of 150,000 Colombians conducted by the RCN radio network.
"This backing from the Colombian people makes me very happy," Gaviria told reporters at his Bogota campaign headquarters. "I never thought I would win by such a wide margin."
Gaviria faces the opposition Conservative candidate, Rodrigo Lloreda, in the May 27 presidential elections.
Party leaders previously selected the Liberal Democratic presidential candidate at a closed convention. Lloreda was chosen at a Conservative Party convention in November.
About 13.8 million Colombians, 18 years or older, were eligible to vote Sunday.
by CNB