Haiti names Preval president

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti declared Rene Preval, a one-time ally of ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's next president after reaching a deal on vote fraud claims that averted a feared outbreak of violence.

Preval, a former president opposed by the same wealthy elite who helped drive Aristide from power two years ago but passionately supported by the Caribbean country's poor, claimed "massive fraud" in the February 7 election had deprived him of a first-round victory in one of the world's poorest countries.

"We have won. Now we are going to fight for parliament," Preval told the Haitian Press Agency.

Jubilant supporters poured into the streets of Port-au-Prince, dancing and chanting "victory, victory," after the embattled Provisional Electoral Council issued a statement on Haitian radio in the middle of the night.

Preval's leading rival in the election, ex-President Leslie Manigat, however, angrily denounced what he called a "coup d'etat through the ballots" and vowed to contest the result.

"Rene Preval has been declared the winner with 51 per cent," council President Max Mathurin said in the statement, setting the country of 8.5 million off on the next chapter in a turbulent political history marked by instability, dictatorships and bloodshed.

Last week's election was the first since Aristide fled into exile in 2004, facing an armed revolt and international pressure to quit after his image as a hero of Haitian democracy was stained by accusations of despotism and corruption.

Preval's supporters warned they would not allow him to suffer the same fate as Aristide, who was twice elected and twice ousted, first by a military coup and then by the revolt.

Preval, 63, was president from 1996-2001, between Aristide's two terms, and is the only leader in Haiti's 202-year history to win a democratic election, serve a full term and peacefully hand power to a successor.

- REUTERS