Chilean billionaire leads presidential vote- survey

SANTIAGO, July 23 (Reuters) - Chilean billionaire and presidential hopeful Sebastian Pinera has a wide lead over moderate leftist Eduardo Frei before December's election and is seen as the winner in a likely run-off, a new poll showed on Thursday.

The survey by pollster MORI said Pinera, of the opposition National Renovation party, would win 43 percent of the registered vote and Frei 21 percent.

Candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami, a left-leaning independent who pulled out of the ruling center-left coalition, got 13 percent, according to the survey.

If the leading candidate fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote on Dec. 13, he would have to face the second-place rival in a January run-off.

In a likely second-round, Pinera would win 46 percent while Frei is seen garnering 30 percent, the MORI survey said.

However, some analysts say Frei, a former president running for the government's leftist coalition, could be boosted by President Michelle Bachelet's $4 billion fiscal stimulus package widely popular among Chileans jittery about the worldwide financial crisis.

The MORI poll interviewed 1,000 people across the country from June 27 to July 9 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Past MORI polls showed a similar trend, with Pinera enjoying a comfortable lead over Frei. Thursday's survey was the first to include Enriquez-Ominami in the race. Other major surveys show similar results in the December vote, but see a tighter race in the run-off.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto and Rodrigo Martinez; Editing by Doina Chiacu)