Twenty-seven years after Chilean strongman General Augusto Pinochet overthrew popularly elected socialist president Salvador Allende, the country has voted in a new leftist leader. Ricardo Lagos, a moderate socialist backed by the centre-left Concertacion coalition, won 51.32 per cent of votes against the 48.68 per cent received by Joaquin Lavin, the contender for the right-wing Alliance for Chile. Lagos will be the first leftist president since Allende, who was killed in the 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power. The general ruled the country with an iron fist and was accused of gross human rights abuses. Pinochet recently escaped prosecution by Spanish authorities on charges of torture during his rule when Britain refused to extradite him to Spain on the grounds that the 84-year-old former dictator is medically unfit to stand trial. Lagos, 61, a US-trained economist, gained prominence by challenging Pinochet during his military regime.