Ricardo Lagos, candidate of Chile's ruling coalition, defeated his rightist rival Joaquin Lavin in Sunday's presidential run-off.

Lavin, from the Alliance for Chile, admitted defeat and went to Lagos's campaign headquarters in a downtown Santiago hotel to congratulate him.

Lagos has so far received more than 3.67 million votes, or 51.32 percent, compared to 3.48 million votes gained by Lavin, according to results announced after more than 99 percent of the votes had been counted.

Lagos, 61, is scheduled to be sworn in as Chile's third president with a six-year tenure since the rule of the military regime ended in the country in 1990.

Lagos and Lavin were the top two winners in the first round of the polls held on December 12 last year. But neither of them nor the other four candidates gained more than 50 percent of the vote. Under the constitution, a run-off was held for Lagos and Lavin. (Xinhua)