Haiti's presidential election could be headed for a run-off after the former president's early lead was slashed after three days of vote counting. Rene Preval had 50.3% of the vote so far with over half the votes counted, barely above the 50% plus one vote threshold needed to avoid a run-off on 19 March.On Thursday, early results appeared to indicate that Preval was on course for an outright victory after he won 61.5% of the first 15% of a predicted 1.75 million votes. Another former president, Leslie Manigat, was in second place with 11.4% and industrialist Charles Baker held third with 8.3%, according to the results published by the Provisional Electoral Council.