Chile's presidential election has been won by the socialist candidate, Ricardo Lagos.

His right-wing rival Joaquin Lavin acknowledged defeat and personally congratulated Mr Lagos on his victory in the second and final round of the poll.

Thousands of Chileans took to the streets of the capital Santiago to celebrate.

With nearly all the votes counted, Mr Lagos had a lead of more than 2%.

He is due to be inaugurated on 11 March for a six-year term, succeeding Eduardo Frei, a Christian Democrat who was constitutionally barred from re-election.

The 61-year-old economist will be the third president of the centre-left coalition which has governed Chile since the return to democracy 10 years ago.

He will also be Chile's first socialist president since General Augusto Pinochet took power in 1973.

Pinochet factor

Mr Lagos is an opponent of the former military dictator, and was imprisoned briefly by the general in the mid-1980s.

He supported efforts to get General Pinochet released from detention in London, saying he should be tried in Chile.

The run-off vote came just five days after the UK said it might release General Pinochet - arrested in London in October 1998 on charges of torture - on health grounds.

However neither Mr Lagos nor the pro-Pinochet Mr Lavin made much of the issue in their campaigns - both focusing instead on day-to-day matters such as health, education and unemployment.

Allende supporter

Mr Lagos limited himself to a brief attack on Mr Lavin, saying it was a good thing Mr Lavin did not wish to discuss the past, because the past so clearly condemned him. Mr Lavin was once an adviser to the former military ruler.

Although Mr Lagos backed the former socialist president, Salvador Allende, toppled by General Pinochet in the bloody 1973 coup, he has dismissed claims that his election would signal a return to Allende-style Marxism.

The poll contest was the tightest in many years. The presidential run-off was called after the first round in December produced no clear winner - with only 0.5% separating the two men.