Chile's Frei Concedes Defeat to Pinera

CAROLINA PICA

Associated Press

Billionaire presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera waved with his wife, Cecilia Morel, after voting Sunday in Santiago during a runoff election.

SANTIAGO, Chile--Chilean presidential candidate Eduardo Frei, of the center-left Concertacion coalition, conceded defeat to his rival, conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera, Sunday night.

With votes from 60.3% of polling stations counted so far, Mr. Frei trailed behind Mr. Pinera with 48.3% of votes to his contender's 51.87%.

Mr. Pinera, a former senator, will be the first right-leaning president since Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.

"I want to congratulate Sebastian Pinera and wish him success," said Mr. Frei, who was flanked by former Presidents Patricio Aylwin and Ricardo Lagos and his family.

Mr. Frei, President of Chile from 1994 to 2000, alluding to many voters' concerns that Mr. Pinera's supporters and possible cabinet members collaborated with the Pinochet regime, added that he hopes Mr. Pinera will uphold the "freedoms that we obtained with such hard work."

At the Pinera camp, meanwhile, his supporters called his victory a historic moment and said they would work for unity in the hopes of burying the ghost of Pinochet.

"Chile has shown the world that it wants to move forward and not govern looking at the past. Many of us in the center right were not involved in the military government," said Bruno Baranda, secretary general of the Renovacion Nacional party, which is part of the right-wing Alianza coalition backing Mr. Pinera.

Mr. Baranda noted that the election marked the end of the so-called "transition to democracy period" following the end of the Pinochet regime.