Haiti declared Rene Preval as President on Thursday after officials agreed to throw out 85,000 ‘‘blank’’ votes from last week’s election.The Brazilian-brokered deal averted possible widespread violence after Preval had condemned ‘‘massive fraud’’ in the February 7 election and thousands of supporters had poured out of Haiti’s slums to demand he be given a first-round victory.The deal over the blank ballots, which showed no choice for President among the 33 candidates and which were suspected of being tainted by fraud, lifted Preval’s share of the vote to 51.15 per cent, above the majority he needed to avoid a March 19 runoff.‘‘Rene Preval has been declared the winner with 51 per cent,’’ said Max Mathurin, president of Provisional Electoral Council. —Reuters
