Haiti's interim government has stopped counting votes and ordered a review of election results on Tuesday, hours after the presidential frontrunner declared the Feb. 7 poll to be tainted by mistakes or "gigantic fraud."

"The government wants to make sure that everything with the process is correct," Paul Magloire, the interim interior minister, said late on Tuesday.

Vote counting will stop while a specially formed commission does its work.

'We have observed there have been gross errors and probably gigantic fraud,' presidential candidate René Préval told a news conference in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Earlier in the day, frontrunner René Préval said he would contest the results, which are almost fully counted and suggest Préval fell short of the majority he needed to be declared outright victor.

"We have observed there have been gross errors and probably gigantic fraud," Préval told reporters in Port-au-Prince, without elaborating on the accusations.

A candidate must capture 50 per cent plus one vote to avoid a March runoff election. The most recent election results, published Monday, show Préval with 48.7 per cent of the ballots.

Haiti's interim government said it would appoint a commission to review the results from the presidential and parliamentary election. It would include the interim president's office, the electoral council and Préval's party.

Officials promised the review of voter tally sheets would be quick.

Leaders urge Préval's backers to stay calm

Tens of thousands of Préval's supporters have flooded the streets of the Haitian capital in the past few days, demanding that he be declared president.

The protesters, who are largely drawn from Haiti's impoverished majority, accuse election officials of conspiring with the country's elite to manipulate election results against Préval.

• FROM FEB. 14, 2006: UN accused as gunfire erupts during Haiti election protests

Both the interim government and Préval called for calm on Tuesday.

"We want the will of the Haiti people to be respected," Préval said at a news conference. "I ask the Haitian people...to be mature, to be responsible, to be non-violent.

"We are not the party of violence," he said. "On the contrary, we are victims of violence by others."

No evidence of fraud, UN spokesperson says

A UN spokesperson, David Wimhurst, told the Associated Press that there has been no evidence of fraud in the election.

"If he believes there have been irregularities, he has the right to request an investigation," said Wimhurst, who is part of a 9,000-member UN force sent to stabilize the Caribbean country before the election.

Préval, a former protegé of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was president from 1996 to 2001.