Democracy!

Headline: A Deal Is Reached to Name a Victor in Haiti's Election:

The agreement is a result of negotiations by Mr. Préval, government officials, foreign diplomats and international observers, including the Organization of American States.

A high-ranking official from the Organization of American States, who insisted on anonymity because of the fragile nature of the agreement, said on Wednesday night that loopholes in Haitian electoral law allow the government to discard an estimated 85,000 blank ballots included in the original tally. By excluding them, Mr. Préval's lead would increase from 48.7 percent of the votes to slightly more than 51 percent.

Under election rules, the winner needs 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a run-off.

An adviser to Mr. Préval, who confirmed the agreement, said on Wednesday that electoral authorities had indicated they began recovering a large number of missing ballots that were believed destroyed or stolen, and that those ballots, estimated at 8 percent of all ballots cast, were overwhelmingly in Mr. Préval's favor.

It's always good to avoid a run-off! Run-off's are exceedingly complicated and extremely undemocratic.

Sometimes you have to wonder what the hell kinda world we live in. Hopefully, Haitians like this guy, and hopefully he won't piss them off enough to have another revolution.