Ex-President Preval’s Camp Claims Lead in Haitian Vote

A spokesman for former Haitian President Rene Preval said Wednesday that unconfirmed early results showed him with a wide lead in the country’s presidential race.

The claim from Preval’s team could not be verified, but some polling stations posted results that showed strong early support for him. Many ballots were still being carried in from remote polling places by plane, truck and mule, and final results might not be available until Friday.

Tuesday’s elections were the first since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a bloody revolt two years ago.

Preval, a 63-year-old agronomist, has wide support among Haiti’s poor masses. At a large polling center near the huge slum of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, the capital, unconfirmed results taped to large columns inside showed him winning about 90% of the votes there.

At a polling station across the capital in the Petionville district, home to many of Haiti’s wealthiest citizens as well the poor Haitians who serve them, Preval took slightly more than 70% of the vote.

Preval’s political advisor, Bob Manuel, said preliminary calculations with 16% of the ballots counted showed the former president winning two-thirds of the nationwide vote.

If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held March 19.

Haitians eagerly awaited the returns as scores of United Nations peacekeepers patrolled streets in Port-au-Prince. Tuesday’s voting, guarded by a 9,000-strong U.N. force, was fraught with early delays but was largely free of violence, belying fears.

More than 50% of Haiti’s 3.5 million registered voters were believed to have cast ballots, said David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman, adding that a precise figure wasn’t yet available.

He also said that the United Nations had not received any reports of fraud or other major irregularities.