Haiti council needs more time to issue preliminary results from presidential vote

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Haitians will have to wait longer for official preliminary results from last month’s first-round presidential election.

The leader of Haiti‘s Provisional Electoral Council said last week that the top two finishers in the Oct. 25 vote would be announced Tuesday.

The council now says it will issue preliminary results on Thursday.

It says the additional time is needed to reconcile complaints of fraud submitted by various quarters in recent days. Out of a total of 162 complaints, 43 have been evaluated as admissible and forwarded to a tabulation centre.

Haitians had to grapple with an unusually long ballot featuring 54 presidential candidates when they cast their votes.

International observers said balloting went relatively smoothly. But some political factions claim votes have gone missing, among other fraud accusations.