By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) -- Colombians went to the polls Sunday in a tight presidential race that many didn't expect would be so close just a few months ago.
Voting was proceeding smoothly for the most part, though a government official reported isolated clashes between the military and armed groups in the country's interior. One soldier was killed in one of the skirmishes, Justice and Interior Minister Fabio Valencia said.
The winner of the election will replace two-term President Alvaro Uribe, who has high approval ratings for his tough stand against Marxist guerrillas that have been waging war against the government since the 1960s. Uribe also has been sparring with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who Colombia accuses of supporting the rebels.
Chavez told CNN en Español he will be glad to see Uribe go.
"I think it will refresh all of Colombia. And it will refresh I hope and I think the relationships Colombia, our sister, has with Latin America, with the Caribbean," Chavez said in an interview that will air on the network Tuesday.
