Peru presidential candidate, nationalist Ollanta Humala is leading the race in the up and coming election on April 9 with a support rating of 31 percent, the latest poll showed on Sunday.

According to the Apoyo poll published in El Comercio newspaper on Sunday, Humala collected 31 percent of the votes among the 2,000 Peruvians interviewed. In second place was former congresswoman Lourdes Flores with 26 percent.

The third-in-line candidate, former center-left president Alan Garcia, gained 23 percent of voter support, competing closely with Flores. Other candidates only got single-digit vote percentages.

If Humala fails to collect 50 percent of votes during the election, he will have to enter a runoff with the second place winner in May. The poll said Flores would defeat Humala by 55 to 45 percent in the second run, as 48 percent of Garcia's votes would go to Flores and only 25 percent to Humala.

Source: Xinhua