Haitian former leader may have to face runoff in presidential race

Haitian presidential candidate Rene Preval may have to face a runoff as partial election results on Saturday showed his support fell below 50 percent in the race of the Caribbean country.

Based on 72 percent of ballots tallied from Tuesday's election, Preval held a strong lead with 49.6 percent of the votes, but less than the 50 percent which was needed to avoid a second-round voting in March.

The former president had been believed to win an outright victory in the race with 50.3 percent of backing when two-thrids of the ballots were counted.

Thousands of people held celebrations on the streets of capital Port-au-Prince on Saturday for the victory they believed the 63-year-old Preval had scored.

The supporters marched from a seaside slum to a national palace, chanting "Lespwa! Lespwa!" which, meaning hope in Creole, is the name of Preval's party. They later marched back to the slum, singing and dancing.

The presidential and parliamentary elections in Haiti had been postponed four times. They were the first races since the oust of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide two years ago. Nearly 3.5 million eligible voters have registered for the polls.

Source: Xinhua