With 60 percent of the votes counted, the Chilean Interior Ministry has declared billionaire Sebastian Pinera the winner of Sunday's runoff presidential election with 51.87 percent of the tally.
His rival, left-leaning former president, Eduardo Frei, has conceded defeat.
The victory by the conservative Pinera, of the National Renewal Party, ends Chile's 20 years of center-left rule and shifts the country to the right.
The Concertacion coalition of four leftwing and centrist parties had ruled since Genearal Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship ended.
Pinera, who owns one of Chile's four television networks and a big stake in flagship airline LAN among many other business interests, will most likely continue the social policies that left President Michelle Bachelet with sky-high popularity ratings of around 80 percent, pundits say.
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