BOGOTA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Polls opened across Colombia on Sunday for the first round of the country's presidential election, with voters casting ballots to elect a president and a vice president for the 2026-2030 term.

Voting began at 8 a.m. local time (1300 GMT). More than 41.4 million registered voters were eligible to cast ballots from among the presidential and vice-presidential tickets on the ballot.

About 13,000 polling stations were set up nationwide. Voting was scheduled to close at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT), with preliminary results expected later Sunday.

Under Colombia's electoral system, a candidate who wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round is elected outright. If no candidate secures an absolute majority, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff, scheduled for June 21. The winner will take office on Aug. 7.

Pre-election polls showed the leading contenders included Ivan Cepeda of the ruling left-wing Historic Pact coalition; Paloma Valencia of the right-wing Democratic Center party; and independent candidate Abelardo De La Espriella, who is associated with the far-right Defenders of the Homeland movement.

Colombia's political landscape has shifted sharply in recent years. In 2022, Gustavo Petro of the Historic Pact was elected president, becoming the country's first left-wing president in modern history.

Under the constitution, the president serves a single four-year term and cannot seek immediate re-election, barring Petro from running again. ■