LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Former President Alan Garcia, who returned to Peru after
                  nearly nine years of exile to launch a re-election bid, has a long way to go to
                  catch up to leading candidate Alejandro Toledo, a poll showed Wednesday.

                  Garcia, whose 1985-90 populist government was overshadowed by
                  corruption charges, guerrilla violence and economic chaos, was in fourth place,
                  with 11 percent support, behind Toledo, who had 27 percent, in the first poll
                  published since the ex-president's return Saturday.

                  The poll of Lima voters, conducted by independent firm CPI, surveyed 516
                  eligible voters between Saturday and Monday and had a margin of error of 4.7
                  percentage points. About a third of Peru's nearly 15 million voters live in the
                  capital, Lima. Elections are scheduled for April 8.

                  Toledo, a U.S.-trained economist who last year lost to now-deposed President
                  Alberto Fujimori in an election riddled with fraud allegations, had about 33
                  percent support in recent national polls. Garcia had about 12 percent.

                  Many analysts believe Toledo will not get the 50 percent of votes necessary to
                  avoid a runoff against a runner-up, and some believe Garcia, a masterful orator,
                  could push his way into second place.

                  Toledo's closest competitor according to Wednesday's poll was former
                  Congresswoman Lourdes Flores Nano, with 18 percent. Congressman Fernando
                  Olivera was in third place, with 16 percent.

                  Fujimori's decade of power ended in November when he fled to Japan -- where
                  his parents were born -- amid mounting corruption scandals surrounding his
                  fugitive ex-spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

                  Garcia hopes to re-ingratiate himself with Peruvians increasingly cynical over the
                  release of videos secretly recorded by Montesinos implicating judges, politicians,
                  military leaders and businessmen in a web of corruption at the core of Fujimori's
                  government.

                  But Garcia must overcome a reputation as the president whose policies left the
                  economy in shambles, with inflation topping 7,600 percent, while Maoist Shining
                  Path guerrillas surged in strength.

                  Peru's Supreme Court recently paved the way for Garcia's return with a ruling
                  that the statute of limitations had run out on outstanding charges that he took
                  bribes and kickbacks totaling several million dollars during his administration.

                  He has denied the allegations and attributed them to political persecution by
                  Fujimori's government.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.