This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Violent protests have erupted in Haiti as losing candidates rejected the preliminary results of an election that indicated political newcomer Jovenel Moïse would be the next president.

Moïse, a banana exporter who ran for former president Michel Martelly’s Bald Heads party, won with 55.67% of votes cast in the 20 November election, the electoral council said on Monday. The result avoids a second round run-off next year.

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Police used teargas on protesters in the La Saline neighborhood, a stronghold of Fanmi Lavalas, the leftist party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It called the results an “electoral coup”.

A Reuters witness heard gunshots in the city.

The US embassy also issued reports of demonstrations, gunshots and burning tires in downtown Port-au-Prince and Malpasse, a town close to the border with the Dominican Republic.

A spokesman for the Haitian national police said it was responding to protests in La Saline but could not confirm whether protests in Malpasse had taken place.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jovenel Moïse, who won the presidential election with 55.67% of the vote. Photograph: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Moïse, the frontrunner in a scrapped election last year, received a majority of votes, meaning there is no need for a second round.

“We salute those who voted for me and those who did not vote for me,” Moïse said. “We are going to use the people, the sun, the land and water to develop the country.“

In the upscale suburb of Pétionville, residents danced and cheered the result.

Jude Célestin, a mechanical engineer who had led a government construction firm, came in second. He received just under a fifth of the vote.

Moïse Jean-Charles, a leftist senator, netted 11%, while Maryse Narcisse, running for Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party, won around 9%, the preliminary results showed.

However, turnout was low and 10% of sheets tallying votes were thrown out because of irregularities. In a country of 10 million people, Jovenel Moïse received just 600,000 votes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A police officer removes a tire set fire by supporters of presidential candidate Maryse Narcisse. Photograph: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Three people on the nine-member electoral council did not sign the report declaring Moïse the winner, although the council’s president did not say who had abstained.

Those elements fueled a universal condemnation of the results from the losing candidates, who have 72 hours to contest before the final results are released on 29 December.

“We reject the results because they are invalid votes that have been counted,” said Michel André, a lawyer for second-place finisher Célestin. “Jude Célestin will challenge the results.”

Moïse Jean-Charles also said on Tuesday that he would fight the results. “The outcome of the election is the result of a conspiracy by the economic oligarchy and sectors of the international community,” he said.