Over 8 million of Chileans are entitled to cast their ballots in a second round of presidential elections on Sunday.
The winner will succeed Michelle Bachelet, the incumbent Chilean president, on March 11, 2010. According to the Chilean Constitution, a president is elected for a single four-year term.
The run-off will be held between center-right candidate Sebastian Pinera, a billionaire businessman, who garnered 44.03% of the vote, and his rival from the governing center-left coalition Eduardo Frei, with 29.62% of the vote. Frei was Chile's president from 1994 to 2000.
Independent lawmaker and former film director Marco Enriquez-Ominami received 20.12% of votes. Communist Jorge Arrate trailed with 6.21%.
If Pinera wins the second round, he will become the first right-wing leader since dictator Augusto Pinochet stepped down in 1990.
The first round of elections took place in relative calm, with about 17,000 police officers guarding 388 polling stations. Turnout figures have not been released.
MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti)
