India, June 22 -- A deeply divided electorate will choose Colombia's next president in a runoff on Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of a renewed internal conflict in the country.

Voters will choose between businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Ivan Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation's first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31 vote. Both are pitching strategies that they say will prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements that Colombians lived wit...