Pinera leads Chile election with 36 pct after partial count

SANTIAGO - 20 November 2017: Conservative Sebastian Pinera took an early lead in Chile's presidential election on Sunday evening, garnering 36.13 percent of votes, with 6.44 percent of ballots counted, Chile's electoral agency Servel said.

Center-left Alejandro Guillier had 22.62 percent and leftist Beatriz Sanchez had 20.78 percent.

Chileans were voting for a successor to President Michelle Bachelet. Sebastian Pinera, a former president, has long been the favorite to come in first but is not forecast to win the 50 percent of votes needed to avoid a December runoff.