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Haiti election headed toward runoff
![]() Supporters of presidential favorite Rene Preval demonstrate in Paort-au-Prince on Sunday. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) -- Former President Rene Preval fell further below the 50 percent he needed to win the Haitian election outright as the counting of ballots continued on Monday and allegations of manipulation mounted. Smoke from burning tires rose over the capital of Port-au-Prince from impromptu barricades as suspicions spread among protesting Preval supporters that the count was being tampered with to stop the one-time ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from winning a first-round victory. Like Aristide, Preval is viewed as a champion of the Caribbean country's poor masses, most of whom live on $1 a day, but he is distrusted by the small and wealthy elite. "We are going to put 1 million people in the streets in the coming hours," said John Joel Joseph, a community leader in the Port-au-Prince slums. "The people won't take this," he added, referring to the latest vote count. With 89.9 percent of ballots counted, Preval's share of the vote in last Tuesday's largely peaceful but chaotic election had slipped to 48.7 percent by Monday morning, the Provisional Electoral Council said on its Web site. When initial results were announced several days ago, Preval held 61 percent of the vote, comfortably over the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff on March 19. Another ex-president, Leslie Manigat, had 11.84 percent percent and the main candidate for the business elite, industrialist Charles Baker, was at 7.9 percent. Thousands of protesters marched in the capital on Sunday demanding Preval be named president, and slumdwellers poured out into the streets again on Monday, vowing to shut down Port-au-Prince. "Nobody can block Preval. The will of the people is the will of God," said Marjorie St.-Fleur. "The people will prevail." Hundreds of heavily armed riot police formed a protective cordon outside the headquarters of the Provisional Electoral Council. All along the street in front, people wearing yellow Preval T-shirts chanted and carried branches with three leaves, the symbol of Preval's political coalition Lespwa, "The Hope." "You have seen nothing yet," said a man who identified himself as Maurice. "We are going to show what the people are capable of." Preval himself complained that a computer-generated graphic on the electoral council's Web site had him at 52 percent of the vote at the time the director-general of the council was telling the media that Preval only had 49 percent. "Forty-nine percent, I don't pass. Fifty percent, I pass," Preval said Sunday in his mountain hometown of Marmelade. Two of the nine electoral council members, Pierre Richard Duchemin and Patrick Fequiere, also remarked on the discrepancy and said the vote tabulation was being manipulated. The election was initially praised by international observers for being peaceful. Haiti's short history of democracy since it flung off the dictatorship of the Duvalier family has been turbulent. Aristide was ousted by an armed revolt in February 2004 and Washington has urged Preval, if elected, not to allow the former Roman Catholic priest to return from exile. Once viewed as a champion of Haiti's democracy, Aristide faced rising accusations of corruption and despotism. Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ![]()
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