With results from Haiti's presidential election trickling in, it was clear that former President René Préval was ahead, but it wasn't clear whether he would face a runoff.
By JACQUELINE CHARLES TRENTON DANIEL AND JOE
[email protected] -
Ballot by ballot, the tallying of votes from Haiti's critical election proceeded slowly Wednesday amid signs that René Préval would finish a strong first in the presidential race.
It was not clear whether the former president and one-time supporter of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide would earn the 50 percent he needs to avoid a runoff March 19 against the second-place finisher.
But a Miami Herald look at several individual polling centers -- which post results on their outside walls -- in the capital and the port cities of Gonaves and St. Marc suggested Préval might win outright.
By 6 p.m. Wednesday, only 3 percent of the vote had been officially tabulated, and only 20 percent of the tally sheets from each of about 800 polling centers across Haiti's mountainous terrain had arrived at electoral headquarters in Port-au-Prince.
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