Chilean Socialist Poll Leader Faces Runoff

A Socialist single mother will become Chile’s first female president, it emerged today - as long as she can defeat a conservative multimillionaire businessman in a runoff election in January.

Michelle Bachelet took the lead in the first round of elections on Sunday, with 45.8% of the vote and 96% of the ballots counted. She faces Sebastián Piñera, who won 25.4% of the vote, on January 15.

Joaquìn Lavìn, in third place, admitted defeat on Sunday after winning 23.2%, saying he would now back Mr Piñera.

"This is the time for unity," he said. "Between the two of us ... we had more votes than Bachelet, and we have a clear chance to win the presidency."

Ms Bachelet said she was disappointed not to have won outright, but pledged to campaign more effectively before the next round.

"Perhaps our message did not get through to voters," she said. "But that’s a good reason for us to work harder so that in January we can win."

Ms Bachelet may pick up voters who backed the fourth-placed candidate, Tomás Hirsh. Mr Hirsh, who represents a coalition that includes the Communist party, received 5.1% of the votes.

Ms Bachelet was once imprisoned and tortured under General Pinochet’s regime. She went on to serve as defense minister in the centre-left, pro-government coalition that has ruled Chile since the dictatorship ended in 1990.

If elected president, she says, she would extend the government’s policies that have halved poverty in Chile and transformed its economy into the most stable in South America. She has also pledged to overhaul the country’s private pension system.

Ms Bachelet is the daughter of an air force general who opposed the Pinochet coup and was jailed and tortured by his peers, dying in prison. Along with her mother, she herself was imprisoned and tortured before being allowed to go into exile first in Australia and then in East Germany.

Mr Piñera is reported to be the richest man in Chile, with $1bn (£567m) in assets. His companies include finance and banking firms, Chile’s largest airline and a television channel. He has promised to put all his interests in a blind trust if he is elected president.