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Summary
Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera appeared headed for a win in Chile's presidential election, though falling short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. With nearly 60% of polling places reporting, Mr. Pinera had 44.2% of the vote, compared to 30.5% for his closest challenger and likely runoff opponent, Eduardo Frei, of the governing center-left Concertacion coalition. Two other left-of-center candidates divided the remaining votes. Chile's presidential front-runner Sebastian Pinera and his wife, Cecilia Morel, greet supporters Sunday after winning the first round of voting. Mr. Pinera, who has investments in an airline, a television network and a soccer club, is trying to close the curtain on the two-decade reign of the Concertacion and become Chile's first conservative president since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1990. Chile is Latin America's most stable economy, but the election comes after a decade when growth was less vigorous than it had been during much of the 1990s and 1980s and voters seem to be weary with the status quo.
