Ballots in Haiti's presidential and parliamentary election are still being counted, but unofficial results show René Préval is leading all other candidates.

Préval was president from 1996 to 2001.

Haitian voter Franz Duha is predicting violence if Préval isn't declared the winner.

Haitian presidential candidate René Préval. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

"If he doesn't win, we will completely destroy the country," he told CBC News through an interpreter.

Duha said he is a member of the Chimeres, a group of armed thugs who supported Haiti's last president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in 2004 and remains in exile in South Africa. Duha voted for Préval in the belief that he will bring back Aristide.

On election day Tuesday, delays and a huge voter turnout forced some stations to extend voting hours.

Electoral workers count ballots by candlelight at a polling station in the town of Gonaives, Haiti, Tuesday Feb. 7. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Many in the impoverished Caribbean country voted by candlelight Tuesday night after lining up for hours in the first election since Aristide's ouster.

Haitian officials and members of the 9,000-strong UN force hailed the election as a success and a step toward democracy.

At least four deaths were reported, but authorities said the voting was largely free of the violence, and noted the heavy turnout showed Haitians weren't frightened away from the ballot box.

Final figures may not be available until Friday, but officials said a huge proportion of the 3.5 million registered voters turned out to choose a new president and 129-member parliament.

"A large majority of the Haitian population voted," said Jose Miguel Insulza, head of the Organization of American States.

"We will have a democratic government ... that this country has fought so long and hard to have."

Acting U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney called the election "a triumph for the Haitian people."

There were 35 candidates vying for the presidency. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff between the top two would be held on March 19.