Rene Preval's lead in Haiti's presidential election narrowed, raising chances a runoff election will be needed to decide who will run this impoverished Caribbean nation plagued by political instability and gang violence.
Election officials were still counting ballots at a tortuous pace three days after voters turned out in huge numbers on Tuesday to choose among 33 presidential contenders.
Preval, a former president and agronomist who is highly popular among the poor, had 50.26 percent of 1.1 million valid votes counted so far, the electoral council said on Friday. Leslie Manigat, a former president, had 11.41 percent of the vote. Businessman Charles Henri Baker had 8.3 percent.
The first initial partial results issued by the council on Thursday showed Preval leading with 61.5 percent of the vote.
The winning candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a March runoff.
More than 1.75 million votes were cast, UN officials said. Max Mathurin, president of Haiti's electoral council, said it was not known when the vote count would be completed.
If Preval does win, he will have to immediately begin negotiating with opposition parties in parliament, where his Lespwa Party is expected to be weak, to select a prime minister. And he must stem gang violence that is driving out manufacturers and eliminating thousands of jobs.
"Everything in Haiti is broken and everything needs fixing," said Robert Maguire, director of the international affairs program at Trinity University in Washington. "One of the most immediate tasks is reconciliation and dialogue among Haitians."
This desperately poor nation has been without an elected leadership and has been descending into anarchy since former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion two years ago.
The huge voter turnout on Tuesday showed Haitians long for stability.
Preval has refrained from declaring victory, but indicated he would have an unconventional style.
"Don't ask me to wear a tie," he told reporters on Friday in his home village of Marmelade.
Preval must help bring together Haiti's polarized society that is split between the few rich and the majority poor, experts say.
Preval already has strong support from Cite Soleil, the huge shantytown where UN peacekeepers regularly traded fire with well-armed gang members before the election.
"I think Preval is going to come in and help with health care, put more schools in the slum, bring treated water to drink and teams who can come in and clean the sewers," a gang leader who goes by the name Toutou said in Cite Soleil.
But Preval's honeymoon period is apt to be short among those who live in the sprawling slums, where a lack of opportunity has steered young men into gangs that have battled with UN peacekeepers.
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