Supporters celebrate Preval win

HAITIANS celebrated in the streets yesterday as word quickly spread that Rene Preval will be Haiti’s next president.

A former Haitian leader with a huge following among the poor, Mr Preval was declared the winner of the February 7 election after thousands of blank ballots were subtracted from the count, giving him a 51.15% of the votes.

His closest rival, Leslie Manigat, accused election officials of breaking the rules to give Mr Preval a first-round victory instead of forcing the two into a run-off. Mr Manigat, who like Mr Preval is a former president, had about 12% of the vote.