Haitian election
results postponed
• Thousands claim Préval victory
PORT-AU-PRINCE, February 12.—The Haitian
electoral authorities last night postponed the final
results of last Tuesday’s elections, while tens of
thousands of people in the street were claiming an
absolute majority for the presidential candidate
René Préval, EFE reports.
Reuters notes that anxiety increased as to the
final result increased this Sunday in the face of
growing rumors of a manipulation in the count.
René Préval, the former president, who led in the
initial count last week, rejected any "problem" in
the count while two of the nine members of the
council supervising the process affirmed that there
was a "manipulation" in the registration center in
the capital.
Jacques Bernard, general director of the
Electoral Council, stated that Préval gained less
than 49% of the votes, a Council website gave him
49.1%, while another computer-generated tally
granted him 52%.
Préval, whom the news agencies say worries the
country’s elite, needs to obtain at least 50% to
avoid a second round. Otherwise, he will have to
confront the second-place candidate – currently
Leslie Manigat with 11.7% of the vote – in new
elections on March 19.
