Uribe top vote-getter in Colombia's Senate voting

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Former President Alvaro Uribe is back in elected office, and his winning of a Senate seat Sunday could potentially complicate efforts by Colombia's government to make peace with leftist rebels.

Uribe's party was the top vote-getter in the Senate in congressional elections in which President Juan Manuel Santos' governing coalition lost some ground.

Uribe has vehemently opposed a negotiated end to a 50-year-old internal conflict that would let the Western Hemisphere's biggest remaining rebel army enter political life.

Santos initiated the talks and hopes to soon conclude them successfully.

Uribe's new Centro Democratico party looks to have won 20 of the Senate's 102 seats Sunday against at least 47 for Santos' weakened coalition.

The coalition's fate will depend on the Conservatives, who are expected to win 17 seats. But it isn't clear if the Conservatives will stay with Santos or join Uribe, who as president in 2002-10 seriously weakened the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia military with close U.S. intelligence and logistical assistance. Santos was defense minister in 2006-09.

If the Conservatives choose Uribe's camp, he could seek to erect legislative obstacles to any peace deal. Santos is the current front-runner in the May presidential election.

The leftist Polo Democratico party lost ground, meanwhile. It slid from eight Senate seats to five. The Green Alliance held at five seats.

Lower house results were still being compiled.