Free Republic

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--Chilean markets will likely open on the uptick Monday morning, following the Sunday presidential election, despite none of the leading candidates winning a clear majority. With 60% of the votes counted Sunday night, conservative opposition candidate Sebastian Pinera was leading, with 44% of the vote, followed by Eduardo Frei, of the governing center-left Concertacion coalition, with 31% of the vote. These two will face each other in a January runoff election. As these numbers are similar to what several polls predicted, markets won't react in a knee-jerk fashion, analysts said. But what investors will be looking at is...

Chile Appears Set To Elect A Conservative Billionaire businessmen Sebastian Pinera is expected to win the most votes in an election to choose highly popular President Michelle Bachelet's successor. A runoff is likely. An election worker carries voting materials at a polling station ahead of general elections in Santiago. Conservative Sebastian Pinera is considered the frontrunner against former President Eduardo Frei. Incumbent President Michelle Bachelet cannot run because of term limits. (Carlos Espinoza / Associated Press / December 12, 2009) By Chris Kraul December 13, 2009 Reporting from Santiago, Chile - As Chileans vote today for the first time since...

Chileans are heading to the polls to vote in a second round of elections that will give them a new president. The candidate leading the opinion polls is Michelle Bachelet, of the governing centre-left coalition. If she wins, she will be Chile's first female president. Her rival is conservative billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera, who says it is time for a change of government. The election is the fourth since the country returned to democracy in 1990 after 17 years of military rule.

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Socialist Michelle Bachelet led Chile's presidential elections on Sunday but had not won enough votes to avoid a potentially tight January run-off, probably against rightist candidate Sebastian Pinera. With more than half of votes counted, the government Electoral Service said Bachelet had 45.68 percent, trailed by rightist opposition candidate Pinera with 25.83 percent. Experts and officials said a run-off was almost certain. If elected Bachelet, a separated mother of three who was tortured and exiled during Chile's 17-year dictatorship, will become Chile's first woman president. Joaquin Lavin, another candidate from Chile's divided conservatives who have been...