Tension Increases in Haiti as Front-Runner's Lead Drops By GINGER THOMPSONPublished: February 13, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 12 — The calm that followed national elections in Haiti was replaced by tension on Sunday, and confidence in the process started to weaken, as leaders of this country's fractious political parties expressed frustration with the delay in releasing final results.
At the same time, community leaders in the country's slums, seeing the share of votes won Tuesday by their candidate for president starting to slip, accused electoral authorities of fraud.
With more than 75 percent of the vote counted by Sunday afternoon, the lead held by René Préval, considered the favorite of impoverished masses, dropped to 49.1 percent. A finish of less than 50 percent would force him into a runoff next month.
Mr. Préval's shrinking vote tally has stunned his supporters, who staged scattered protests across this city on Sunday, as well as international observers, whose independent samplings of the votes had shown Mr. Préval winning well above 50 percent of the vote.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/international/americas/13haiti.html