Leading the way on Chilean election results

Reuters was way ahead with the results of Chiles presidential election on Dec 13, which set up a January run-off between conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera and center-leftist ruling coalition candidate Eduardo Frei. We were one hour ahead of Bloomberg with the first media projection that Pinera had a big lead but would fall short of a first-round victory. Reuters then led Bloomberg and Dow Jones on all early official results. The comprehensive election package included interviews with Felipe Larrain, tipped as Pineras pick for finance minister, and maverick independent Marco Enriquez-Ominami, who divided the left and whose votes Pinera and Frei are now going after. A Pinera victory would end two decades of center-left rule in Chile and is expected to give a short-term boost to Chile’s financial markets although he is unlikely to make big changes to economic policy.