Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, leader of the New Majority coalition, led the presidential polls yesterday but was unable to clinch the presidency without heading towards a runoff election. Bachelet won nearly twice as many votes as her opponent Evelyn Matthei.

The 62-year-old politician took home nearly 47 percent of the votes, followed by Matthei’s 25 percent. Bachelet, who served in office from 2006 to 2010, is the clear favorite for the presidency.

Rival Matthei, a conservative backed by President Sebastián Piñera, took to Twitter to thank her supporters and rally for the second round of voting on December 15. “Reaching the second is undoubtedly a great triumph,” the 60-year-old former Minister of Labor and Social Security wrote.

She continued, “When this project began, many doubted we would be here. But here we are.” According to the BBC, Matthei told supporters in Santiago, “The country has mostly voted for the proposal that we have made for Chile, so that Chile will be once and for all the modern and fair country that we want.”

“We won tonight and we will work to win by an ample margin in December,” she concluded.

Despite Bachelet’s win in the first round, the former president has a complicated road ahead of her. The former head of UN Women will be forced to deal with the education protests that plagued the end of her presidency.

USA Today reported that Bachelet plans to ease tensions over the education system by raise corporate tax rates from 20 percent to 25 percent. She also plans to tackle a tax system that allows wealthy Chileans to avoid 40 percent income tax over $100,000 a year by putting their earnings in investment companies.

Bachelet also plans to overhaul the constitution set in place by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose regime ruled for 17 years and was the cause of her father’s death. Britain’s The Guardian reported that Bachelet will need the votes from the opposition coalition called Alianza in order to fulfil her promise of constitution overhaul.

According to Voice of America, all 120 lower house seats and 20 of the 38 Senate seats were also being contested during the election. Bachelet’s New Majority coalition won 51 percent of the votes in the Senate and 48 percent of the votes in the lower house.

The second round of the presidential election will be held on December 15.