Electoral Panorama / Panorama Electoral

Chile and Ukraine are holding presidential elections today, in both instances under the runoff voting system. The vote in Ukraine is a first round in which no candidate is expected to win an outright majority, in whose case a runoff election among the top two candidates would be held next February 7. Meanwhile, Chile already held presidential and parliamentary elections last December 13, but no candidate secured an absolute majority in the presidential poll, and Chilean voters will choose today between the top two candidates in last December's first round, namely Sebastián Piñera Echenique of the center-right Coalition for Change and former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the center-left Concertación, which has ruled Chile since 1990.

I've commented about both elections over at the Fruits and Votes blog posting on Presidential elections in Chile and Ukraine; more detailed postings will be available soon on Global Economy Matters.

In the meantime, Presidential and Legislative Elections in Chile has detailed results of Chilean general elections since 1989 (including last December's vote), while Chile's democratic restoration, two decades on presents an overview of Chilean politics since the restoration of constitutional rule in the South American nation in 1988-89.

Finally, I do not have an Ukraine page yet, but Ukraine holds an early parliamentary election has a comprehensive review of political developments in Ukraine since the Eastern European country attained independence in 1991, up to their early parliamentary poll in 2007.

Update

Sebastián Piñera Echenique has been elected President of Chile. With nearly all polling stations tallied, Piñera narrowly prevailed over former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle by a margin of 51.6% to 48.4%.

The Chilean Interior Ministry's 2009 Election Results website has live presidential runoff election results in Spanish.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Central Election Commission website has live 2010 presidential election results here, in Ukrainian. Early figures have Viktor Yanukovych in first place but short of an absolute majority, with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko firmly in second place. As for incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko, he is currently trailing in a distant fifth (that's right, fifth) place.