Conservative Duque keeps lead in two polls for Colombia election

BOGOTA, May 18 (Reuters) – Conservative candidate Ivan Duque kept a lead over his rivals ahead of Colombia’s May 27 presidential election, according to two surveys published on Friday.

Support for Duque, a protégé of former President Alvaro Uribe, rose 1 percentage point in a Cifras y Conceptos poll, compared with its last survey a week ago, while a poll by Centro Nacional de Consultoria (CNC) saw support for him drop 5.3 points from its May 4 poll.

Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro, a former M-19 rebel and ex-mayor of Bogota, was in second place with 24 percent, up 1.5 points from the last survey by Cifras y Conceptos, and at 27 percent in the CNC poll, down 4 points from its last poll. Centrist Sergio Fajardo was third with 16 percent in the Cifras y Concepto poll and 18 percent in the CNC survey.

Support for center-right German Vargas was 14.3 percent by Cifras y Conceptos and 10 percent in the CNC poll. CNC Cifras y YanHaas CNC May Cifras y May 4 Conceptos May 17 18 Conceptos May 10 May 18 Ivan 41.3 34 35 36 35 Duque Gustavo 31 22.5 26 27 24 Petro Sergio 13.3 13.8 14 18 16 Fajardo German 7.9 13.2 6 10 14.3 Vargas Margin of 3 4.5 3.2 2.9 3.6 error (Reporting by Bogota newsroom Editing by Paul Simao)