Peru's ex-president Alan Garcia had a convincing lead of over 10 percent in the presidential runoff on Sunday over Nationalist ex-army commander Ollanta Humala, according to an official count of the ballots.

With 77.3 percent of the vote counted, Garcia won 55.46 percent of the vote while his rival Humala got 44.54, said Magdalena Chu, the electoral agency chief, who described Garcia's lead as almost "insurmountable."

"The people have voted for us," said Garcia, expressing his gratitude to the Peruvians "who have given a majority of the vote" to him.

Unofficial projections made by the Apoyo polling firm a few hours ago indicated Garcia won 52.8 percent of the vote against 47.2 percent for Humala.

The figures were echoed by another exit poll conducted by the Dantum International firm, which said Garcia garnered 55 percent against Humala's 45 percent of the vote, based on almost 27,500 interviews.

Sunday's vote is a run-off between the two left-wingers, who won the most votes from a 20-strong field of first round candidates.

Garcia, 57, won just over 24 percent in the April 9 first round vote while Humala, 43, gained just short of 31 percent.

Some 16.5 million Peruvians are eligible to vote in these elections.

Garcia held Peru's presidency from 1985 to 1990, during which the Latin American country was mired in guerrilla violence and economic chaos. But he said during the election campaign that he had learned from the mistakes of his 1985-1990 term and would better manage Peru's economy.

Humala, who described himself as a center-left democrat, is feared by Peru's middle and upper classes. He denounced them as corrupt and regardless of the needs of the poor, and vowed to amend the constitution to deprive them of power.

Analysts said many Peruvians showed apparent preference for Garcia, who was dubbed "Latin America's Kennedy" at the age of 35 when he was elected the nation's president, regarding him as the lesser of the two evils and less hostile to business.

Garcia was educated in the Law Department of Catholic University in Lima and the National University of San Marcos. He became a lawyer in 1972 and then continued to study in Spain, France, Britain and the Netherlands. He gained a doctor's degree in law and sociology.

He has pledged to scrap any free-trade deal with the United States and raise taxes on the mining industry, the main engine of Peru's economy.

Source: Xinhua