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Chile held elections Sunday to choose a successor to outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and to renew most of the prosperous South American nation's Congress.
A conservative billionaire, Sebastian Pinera, 60, was tipped by surveys to win this first round of the presidential race, but with less than the 50 percent of the ballots needed to avoid a run-off on January 17 against his next-placed rival.
If Pinera does go on to win the presidency, he would break a two-decade grip on power held by Bachelet's center-left Concertacion coalition since the end of General Augusto Pinochet's 1974-1990 military dictatorship.
The left's vote was split on Sunday between Eduardo Frei, a 67-year-old former president running on Concertacion's ticket, and independent Marco Enriquez-Ominami, a 36-year-old handsome former film director who appeals to the otherwise politically apathetic youth electorate.
The polls closed at 1900 GMT, and preliminary results were expected around 7:00 pm (2200 GMT).
Pre-election voter intention surveys credited Pinera -- the owner of one of Chile's four television networks who also has stakes in the national airline LAN and a football club, and a fortune estimated at 1.2 billion dollars -- with 44 percent support.
Frei, who held office 1994-2000, was given 31 percent, while Enriquez-Ominami -- known by his initials MEO within Chile -- had around 18 percent.
Bachelet, 58, will complete her four-year mandate in March 2010. She is barred from seeking another term under the constitution.
Speaking after casting her ballot Sunday, she said: "We all know there will be a second round, even though this first round is going to be very important."
Pinera exuded confidence as he voted in central Santiago for his second tilt at the presidency.
"Better times are coming for those having it rough," he said, accompanied by his wife, one of his four children, and a dense pack of supporters and news media.
He boasted before the polls that the Concertacion coalition "is over... They exhausted themselves politically a long time ago."
Enriquez-Ominami, whose guerrilla father was killed under Pinochet's dictatorship, expressed hope he would make it through to the run-off round, ahead of Frei.
"I have a lot of confidence that the people will vote for a true change," he said as he voted in a town north of the capital.
Sunday's elections will also renew the 120-seat Chamber of Deputies and 20 of the 38 members of the Senate.
Chile is a relatively prosperous nation that has largely weathered the financial crisis thanks to a "rainy day" state fund set up from revenues from copper, of which it is the biggest producer in the world.
Although unemployment has climbed to an uncomfortable 9.7 percent and the economy contracted this year, Bachelet is ending her mandate with a sky-high 80 percent popularity rating because of her careful economic stewardship that benefited the poor.
Whoever takes over is expected to continue much the same policies, although Pinera would face pressure from his conservative backers to roll back some of the government largesse.
There are 8.3 million registered voters in Chile, with a bias towards an older electorate because of apathy among the country's youth.
