Businessman Moise wins Haiti election in first round, provisional results

A customer checks sugar cane sold by a street vendor next to posters of presidential candidate Jovenel Moise of PHTK (Bald Head Haitian Party) before the election in a street of Les Cayes, Haiti, November 19, 2016. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitians have chosen banana exporter Jovenel Moise as their next president, provisional results released by the election council on Monday showed, with the political novice winning a majority and avoiding a second round runoff.

Moise won 55.67 percent of the vote in the Nov. 20 election, the electoral council said, a majority that means the impoverished Caribbean nation will avoid a runoff and a political void, so long as the losing candidates do not contest the result.