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Frei Concedes Defeat in Chilean Presidential Election

   VOA News 17 January 2010
   Eduardo  Frei,  candidate of the government coalition, after conceding
   the runoff presidential elections in Santiago, 17 Jan 2010

Photo: AP

   Eduardo  Frei,  candidate  of  the  government coalition, waves to the
   crowd  after  conceding the runoff presidential elections in Santiago,
   17 Jan 2010

   Former   Chilean  President  Eduardo  Frei  has  conceded  losing  the
   country's  presidential election to conservative billionaire Sebastian
   Pinera.
   With 99 percent of the polling places counted, official returns showed
   Mr. Pinera with 52 percent of the vote and Mr. Frei with 48 percent.
   Mr. Frei conceded defeat Sunday evening, marking an end to two decades
   of center-left rule in Chile.
   The  new  president will succeed outgoing President Michelle Bachelet.
   She cannot run for a second consecutive term.
   Mr.  Pinera, a Harvard-educated economist, lost to Ms. Bachelet in the
   last  presidential  vote  in  2006.   He  owns a television station, a
   soccer  team  and  a  stake  in Lan Airlines.  He is expected to steer
   Latin America's most stable economy toward more free-market policies.
   The  center-left coalition known as the Concertacion has been in power
   since democracy was reinstated in Chile in 1990.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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