LIMA (BBC) -- A nationalist ex-army officer has a narrow lead in the first round of Peru's presidential election but the race looks set for a runoff vote.

Ollanta Humala leads with 27.3% of the vote, with conservative Lourdes Flores on 26.5% and ex-President Alan Garcia in third place with 26.1%.

The figures include results from 45% of polling stations.

A second round on May 7 looks certain as Humala is well below the 50% of the vote needed for outright victory.

He has vowed to spend more money on the poor, and if he wins is expected to take the South American state in a similar direction to Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.

Peruvians were also electing two vice-presidents and 120 members of Congress.

The state deployed 53,000 police and soldiers to make sure the election went smoothly. -------Presidential warning

Barred from standing again by the constitution, outgoing President Alejandro Toledo had appealed to voters to reject "the authoritarianism and the instability of the past".

Humala first came to public attention when he led a military rebellion against the government of Alberto Fujimori in 2000.

His talk of rewriting the constitution in order to "stop the process of neo-colonialism in Peru", and blocking the signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, has reportedly led some foreign firms to put investment plans on hold.

Despite the country enjoying sustained economic growth, little of the wealth appears to have reached the more than 50% of Peruvians living below the poverty line.

The business sector is widely said to favor Ms Flores, a former congresswoman who is hoping her chances will be boosted by Michelle Bachelet's recent win in Chile.

Garcia's 1985-1990 administration was marked by hyperinflation and rebel violence but he remains popular among many Peruvians and focused much of his campaign on attracting young voters.