René Préval leading Haitian election according to opinion poll

December 11, 2005

An opinion poll conducted by CID group and Gallup in early November shows that former president René Préval is the frontrunner for the upcoming January elections. These will be the first elections held in Haiti since the overthrow of President Aristide in 2004. Préval is a former member of the Lavalas family party, the party of Aristide. Préval is running as an independent in this election and Lavalas is expected to run former prime minister, and currently imprisoned, Jean-Juste.

The poll surveyed the opinions of 1,200 people, and 32 percent said they favored Préval. Coming in second was the Haitian-American industrialist Dumarsais Siméus with 21 percent. Former president Leslie François Manigat came in a distant third with 5 percent. Others receiving a vote include Evans Paul, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince with 4 percent, Guy Philippe, leader of the 2004 rebellion to overthrow Aristide with 4 percent, Serge Gilles, a former senator with 4 percent, Marc Bazin with 4 percent, Charles Henri Baker with 2 percent, and Dany Toussaint with 2 percent.