Haiti: The prospects for a run-off election in Haiti's presidential race grew as former president René Preval's vote total fell below 50 per cent, according to new results issued on Saturday.
With 72 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Preval had 49.6 per cent to 11.6 per cent for another ex-president, Leslie Manigat, and 8.1 per cent for industrialist Charles Baker.
Mr Preval needs a simple majority to avoid a runoff on March 19th.
In Port-au-Prince, hundreds of people marched in support of Mr Preval, and some accused elections officials of trying to steal Haiti's first vote since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted two years ago.
Four days after the election, less than three-quarters of the votes had been counted, creating suspicion among residents of Mr Preval's stronghold in the Cité Soleil slum that the election was being manipulated.
Demonstrators swarmed the National Palace, where they tore down large posters of the nearly three dozen presidential candidates that had been attached to the metal fence surrounding the palace grounds - all but Mr Preval's.
"If they don't give us Preval, there will be no peace. Somebody paid the election council to give away the result," a woman who identified herself as Marie (46), shouted. "We did not vote for Manigat. We did not vote for Baker. We voted for Preval."
Mr Preval's campaign demanded copies of vote-count forms after elections officials reported on Friday that more than 105,000 ballots had been rejected.
An elections council member said the number of spoiled ballots was "suspect" and called for an investigation.
A victory for Mr Preval could prove unsettling to the United States, which worked to push Mr Aristide from power two years ago.
On Friday, Washington urged Mr Preval, who maintained a low profile in his mountain hometown of Marmelade in the north, to oppose Mr Aristide's return from exile in South Africa.
Mr Preval inherited Mr Aristide's support in the slums of Port-au-Prince and his possible victory worried the wealthy elite who helped oust Mr Aristide.
In Cité Soleil, Haiti's largest slum and an Aristide stronghold, demonstrators ran through the streets past shanties and open sewers, waving tree branches and shouting, "Preval is our president!" They demanded a speedier vote count.
- (Reuters)