U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed on Thursday the high turnout in Haiti's general elections on Tuesday and called for respect to the final results of the vote.

"I congratulate the Haitian people for demonstrating their commitment to democracy by voting in large numbers on February 7," Rice said in a statement.

"Haitians can take great pride in the success of these elections," Rice said.

Haitian voters flocked to polling stations on Tuesday to participate in the long-awaited presidential and parliamentary elections. The elections, which had been postponed four times for security reasons, were observed by the U.N., the European Union, the United States' National Institute for Democracy and the International Organization of Francophones.

Haitians were to elect the president, 30 senators and 99 deputies in the elections. To win outright, a presidential candidate has to win more than 50 percent of the votes.

Source: Xinhua