BOGOTA, Colombia -- After the failure of peace talks, Colombians began voting on Sunday under massive military security in a presidential election expected to hand victory to tough-talking anti-rebel candidate Alvaro Uribe, Reuters reported.

Opinion polls show Uribe, a former governor who has pledged to crack down on leftist guerrillas fighting in the country's 38-year-old war, just shy of the absolute majority he needs to avoid a June runoff.

Polls opened at (9 A.M.) to allow 24 million eligible voters to cast their ballots across this vast Andean South American nation. Polls will close at 4 P.M.

Thousands of soldiers and police fanned out across the country to ensure a peaceful vote after rebels blew up bridges, bombed pylons and planted a car bomb on the eve of the vote.

President Andres Pastrana, whose efforts to negotiate an end to a war that kills 3,500 people every year crashed in February, is constitutionally barred from seeking reelection.

Colombia's drug-fueled war involves leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitary outlaws and state security forces.