Musician wins presidential election

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC):

Musician Michel 'Sweet Micky' Martelly won the presidential election in Haiti according to the preliminary results released late on Monday night.

Spokesman for the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), Pierre Thibault, said Martelly had received nearly 68 per cent of the votes cast in the March 20 second-round runoff and easily defeating former first lady and law professor Mirlande Manigat.

celebrations

The announcement of his victory was greeted by loud, noisy celebrations, and Martelly, who was nearly not involved in the second round after having first been declared a third-place winner in the November 28 first round of balloting, is promising profound change for Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere.

He is vowing to provide free education in a country where more than half the children can't afford school, and to create economic opportunity amid almost universal unemployment.

Martelly thanked voters in a brief statement on his Twitter account: "We'll work for all Haitians. Together we can do it."

The president elect is the son of an oil company executive, who grew up in Carrefour, part of the dense urban mass that makes up the capital.

He attended a prestigious Roman Catholic school in Port-au-Prince and junior colleges in the United States, though he never graduated. But he found his calling and became a household name in the country through his music, Kompas, the country's high-energy music.

The CEP has said that the final results are due to be released April 16.