PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Leading presidential candidate Rene Preval claimed yesterday that “gross errors” and likely fraud marred the vote that saw him fall just short of a first-round victory, and he said he would contest the results.

He also urged supporters to protest peacefully, a day after at least one pro-Preval demonstrator was killed and followers elsewhere occupied a hotel.

White U.N. armored vehicles shoved aside roadblocks of junked cars, old refrigerators and other debris blocking the streets of the capital yesterday, and most were clear by mid-afternoon. Businesses remained shuttered, but street markets bustled with shoppers.

Mr. Preval, a former protege of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who enjoys wide support among the poor, called on followers to remove all roadblocks so people can get to work.

“I ask the Haitian people … to be mature, to be responsible, to be nonviolent,” Mr. Preval told reporters while sitting on a couch on the lawn of his gated home in the Petionville suburb.

The most recent election results, which were posted on the electoral council’s Web site Monday afternoon, showed Preval had 48.76% of the vote with 90% of ballots counted. He would need 50% plus one vote from the February 7 election to win outright and avoid a March runoff.

“If they publish the results as they are now, we will oppose them, the Haitian people will also oppose them, and there will be protests,” Mr. Preval said.

“We are convinced that either massive fraud or gross errors stain the [electoral] process,” Mr. Preval said, adding that the official results “do not correspond with reality.”

The constitution indicates a challenge would go to the Supreme Court, but the interim government recently decreed that any complaints should go to the electoral commission – the same body issuing the results.

A U.N. spokesman, David Wimhurst, said no evidence of fraud was detected in the elections. “If he believes there have been irregularities, he has the right to request an investigation,” Mr. Wimhurst told the Associated Press.

Officials haven’t said when they will release final results. The U.N. said pro-Preval demonstrations were preventing election personnel from going to work and many counting centers had closed because of security concerns.

The U.N. Security Council urged Haitians to respect election results and refrain from violence, and it extended the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months, until August 15.