BREAKING NEWS ~ UN peacekeepers fire on Haiti election protestors News
BREAKING NEWS ~ UN peacekeepers fire on Haiti election protestors

[JURIST] Members of the UN Stabilization Force in Haiti [official website] have fired on Haitians protesting election results [AP report], killing at least one protester and injuring four. Demonstrators supporting presidential candidate Rene Preval [Wikipedia profile] erected flaming roadblocks on Monday, demanding that the candidate be declared the winner in last week's election.

Preval, a former president and close ally of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], took an early lead [JURIST report], but current figures [PDF text] from the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) [official website] show that Preval has 48.76 percent of the vote, less than the outright majority he needs to avoid a runoff election. Two members of the nine-member CEP said Sunday that the vote was being manipulated [JURIST report]. Election officials have said they will postpone the announcement of official results [MercoPress report], reversing an earlier announcement from the head of the CEP that results would be released Sunday evening. No explanation has been given for the delay. AFP has more.