Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Tense Haiti Awaits Initial Election Results VOA News 07 December 2010 Haiti's policemen rest during their turn of guard at the provisional electoral council in Port-au-Prince, 6 Dec 2010 Photo: Reuters Haiti's policemen rest during their turn of guard at the provisional electoral council in Port-au-Prince, 6 Dec 2010 Tension is high in Haiti where the preliminary results from last month's presidential election are expected to be released Tuesday. Several presidential candidates have already challenged the vote. They led protests Sunday demanding the annulment of the November 28 election.  Protestors, who clashed with police, accused outgoing President Rene Preval's government of trying to manipulate the vote in favor of ruling party candidate Jude Celestin. If Tuesday's results show no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held January 16. Nearly 20 candidates ran for president. International observers have said the elections should be considered valid, despite irregularities that generated the protests and fraud allegations. Haiti's Electoral Council had declared the balloting a success.  Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. The nation has been struggling to recover from a January earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left 1 million others homeless. It is also battling an ongoing cholera outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people. .