SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- Chilean officials began counting
                  ballots Sunday from a presidential election in which a socialist and a
                  rightist offered pledges to rescue their nation from recession.

                  Campaign teams for both Ricardo Lagos of the center-left Concertacion
                  coalition and Joaquin Lavin of the right-wing Alliance for Chile said they
                  might have some preliminary results around 6 p.m. (2100 GMT, 4 p.m.
                  EST), one hour ahead of expected first official results.

                  Although there are six candidates running, opinion polls show only Lagos,
                  61, and Lavin, 46, have any real chance of winning.

                  Neither Lagos nor Lavin is expected to win the 50 percent majority needed
                  to claim an outright victory and take over the presidency from Eduardo Frei,
                  who will step down in March at the end of a six-year term. Opinion polls
                  indicate Lagos may win around 46 percent of the vote and predict 40 percent
                  for Lavin.

                  If neither wins a majority, a run-off poll would be held in mid-January. Polls
                  also indicate Lagos would easily win a second-round vote.

                  The two men come from very different backgrounds. Both men have been
                  linked in the past to Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet; Lavin as a
                  supporter, Lagos as an opponent.

                  Lavin advised the Pinochet regime on media issues while Lagos has political
                  connections to former President Salvador Allende, whom Pinochet toppled
                  in a bloody coup in September 1973. This is Chile's third presidential
                  election since Pinochet left office in 1990.

                  Both men have avoided the issue of Pinochet in their campaigns in a tacit
                  accord not to mention Lavin's links to the dictator when he was editor of the
                  influential daily El Mercurio or Lagos' connections with Allende.

                   However, they agree that if Pinochet is going to be tried for alleged human
                   rights abuses during his 17-year dictatorship, then the trial should be
                   held in Chile. Pinochet is being held by Britain while Spain seeks his
                   extradition for a trial after an indictment was issued by a Spanish judge.

                  Despite their deep political differences, Lagos and Lavin offered similar
                  economic platforms to take Chile out of its deep recession. They promised
                  to maintain free market policies and committed themselves to reviving
                  economic growth to 6 percent annually or more.

                  Lagos, a lawyer and economist, is seeking to become Chile's first socialist
                  president since Allende. He wants to change the constitution inherited from
                  Pinochet, which he considers undemocratic.

                  In his campaign, Lavin focused on "the problems that interest people," such
                  as unemployment and crime. He has tried to capitalize on the recession and
                  11 percent unemployment that hit Chile last year after 15 years of steady
                  growth, blaming the downturn on the governing coalition that is backing
                  Lagos.

                  Four other candidates - a communist, a humanist, an environmentalist and an
                  independent rightist - were expected to receive marginal votes.

                  Some 8 million voters have registered for the compulsory elections.

                   Correspondent Charlotte Smith, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this
                                             report.