Crowds demand Preval be named Haiti president

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Shouting "Preval is president", thousands of protesters marched in the Haitian capital demanding election results.

The poll five days ago was the troubled Caribbean nation's first vote since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004.

The large demonstrations came as concerns grew that the election results, which showed former president Preval romping ahead of his rivals in the first round but just short of a majority needed to avoid a runoff, were being manipulated.

Preval, a former Aristide ally opposed by the wealthy elite in the poor Caribbean nation, complained there was a "problem" with the counting, and two members of a nine-member council that oversees elections decried "manipulation" of the count.

The electoral council had said final results would be made public on Sunday but they had not been released by early evening, as thousands rallied outside the hilltop hotel where the tally was to be announced.

Preval supporters filled a 10-block stretch of one of the teeming capital's main streets from sidewalk to sidewalk, singing and waving tree branches and chanting, "We voted already, Preval is president, We're not going to vote again!"

- REUTERS