ARTICLE - HAITI AGAIN DELAYS ELECTION RESULTS

HAITI AGAIN POSTPONES PRESIDENTIAL VOTE RESULTS
(AFP) –

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti election officials postponed for the second time Saturday the release of general election results due to disputes over some legislative races, officials said.

Originally due Saturday, the results were first pushed back to Monday and are now set to be released two days later, they said.

"Due to the high number of disputed ballots, the Provisional Electoral Council has been forced to postpone to Wednesday, April 20, 2011 the announcement of final election results," the body said in a statement.

Preliminary presidential results published April 4 effectively gave victory to candidate Michel Martelly, a popular singer and former carnival entertainer, with 67.57 percent of the vote in a March 20 run-off against former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who finished with 31.74 percent.

Manigat has said she will not challenge the result, despite denouncing an "electoral hold-up" and declaring she was "outraged" for the country she loved.

The delay appears to result from the scores of legislative challenges across the impoverished Caribbean nation where supporters of various candidates have demonstrated, sometimes violently, in claims of victory.

Election tribunals have received numerous complaints from losing candidates in localities where elections were very tight.

On Friday, outgoing President Rene Preval hosted Martelly in his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince, in the first meeting between the two men since the electoral process began.

No details have officially emerged from the meeting, but a close Martelly associate told AFP that the formation of transition teams to prepare for the handover of power was underway.

Haiti's new president is to take office on May 14.