2 ex-premiers running neck-to-neck in Central African vote

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) - Two former prime ministers are running neck-to-neck in presidential elections to end years of violence pitting Muslims against Christians in the Central African Republic, with two-thirds of votes counted Saturday.

Voters turned out in a mass vote for peace Wednesday to end the conflict that erupted when a largely Muslim rebel alliance overthrew a Christian president in 2013, provoking a horrific backlash from Christian militias. Thousands have died and nearly 1 million people - a fifth of the population - have been forced from their homes.

The National Electoral Authority announced results with 64 percent of the votes counted: Faustin Archange Touadera with 30,999 ballots to 28,162 for banker Anicet Georges Dologuele. In third place is Desire Zanga Bilal Kolingba, son of a former president, with 25,057.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent, the two front-runners will compete in a second round of voting.

Saturday's results all are from Bangui, the capital. Electoral Authority spokesman Julius Rufin Ngoadebaba said results from elsewhere should be available by Sunday afternoon. They include votes from refugees in neighboring Cameroon.

Kolingba said the elections' credibility could be undermined by irregularities including the stealing of ballot boxes, and has warned against the theft of his "certain victory."

The United Nations said "armed elements" attacked peacekeepers as they loaded election materials into a truck in Bangui and wounded three police officers.

The election for a president and legislators from 1.8 million registered voters comes nearly a month after Pope Francis visited the country and called for peace and reconciliation between Christians and Muslims.

A country that should be rich from deposits of uranium, oil, gold and diamonds as well as rich arable land and forests of timber is among the 10 poorest in the world.