Michelle Bachelet (file photo)

The leading candidate in Chile's election, Michelle Bachelet, still looks set to become the nation's first female president despite waning support.

With just over a week to go before the balloting, a poll published Thursday indicates the socialist candidate has 39 percent of the vote. Her support was down just over nine percentage points from a poll in September.

The survey indicates Ms. Bachelet's closest competitor in the December 11 vote is right-leaning candidate Sebastian Pinera, with 22 percent - one percentage point higher than before.

Chile requires a runoff election if no candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote. Thursday's poll results suggest Ms. Bachelet would prevail over Mr. Pinera by a margin of 47 percent to almost 40 percent, in a second round of voting.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AP.