Two members of Haiti’s electoral council are charging fraud as early returns show a dwindling lead for Presidential front-runner Rene Preval. Initial results had Preval in the lead with over 60% percent. But with over three quarters of votes counted, Preval’s lead has fallen to 49% — just below the 50% needed to avoid a run-off vote in March. The two election officials say they’ve noticed discrepancies between the official results and the results on the electoral computer system. Pierre Richard Duchemin, who is in charge of the main voting tabulation center, said: “There is an unwholesome manipulation of the data. Nothing is transparent.” Further questions are being raised with the disclosure election officials have counted over 72,000 blank ballots. When counted, the ballots have the effect of lowering a candidate’s percentage — even though they contain no vote. In the capital of Port-au-Prince, over 10,000 Preval supporters took to the streets Sunday demanding a fair vote count.