Leftist to become Chile?s youngest ever president after beating far-right rival

A leftist former student leader has stormed to a resounding victory to become Chile's president-elect.

With nearly 97% of the vote already counted, Gabriel Boric claimed 55.8% to take a 12 percentage point lead over his far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast, an ultra-conservative father of nine, who quickly accepted his defeat and called Boric to congratulate him.

"I would like to thank the millions of Chileans who believed in us," said Kast on stage outside his campaign headquarters. "Gabriel Boric can count on us," he concluded.

Boric was due to address expectant crowds on Sunday night, with the air split by the sound of car horns and the jubilant chants of his supporters who have thronged the street corners, plazas and wide boulevards of downtown Santiago.

"This is such a massive win - I still can't quite believe it!" exclaimed Communist party congresswoman Karol Cariola outside Boric's campaign hub in downtown Santiago.

With Boric failing to gain ground across much of the country in the first-round vote on 21 November, which he lost to Kast by two percentage points, Cariola was instrumental in overturning the deficit as part of a series of nationwide tours which sought to visit 1m homes the length of the country.

But on a sweltering day in Chile, voting was marred by public transport difficulties across the country, although the government claimed it had done everything in its power to guarantee voters could reach polling stations.