MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
A second round of presidential elections has been indefinitely postponed. The first round marred by allegations of fraud and voter intimidation.
BLOCK: NPR's Carrie Kahn has this profile of the Haitian president.
CARRIE KAHN: At the site where tens of thousands of earthquake victims are buried, President Preval made a rare public appearance earlier this month at one of the commemorations of the January 12 catastrophe.
RENE PREVAL: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Preval first took office after the popular priest-turned-politician Jean- Bertrand Aristide left in 1996, and he was re-elected in 2006.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN)
KAHN: But today, it's difficult to find supporters, especially in the squalid encampments erected in the shadow of the destroyed palace.
CARLOS JEAN CHARLES: (Unintelligible) national policy, the devil's house, you know?
KAHN: It's the devil's house, says Carlos Jean Charles. He sells his paintings to foreigners who come to stare at the crumbled ruins through its tall neon green gates.
JEAN CHARLES: Rene Preval is the devil in this country, you know? In his time, we receive cholera, earthquake, tsunami. We don't need him in this country no more.
KAHN: Speaking in French and accompanied by his personal interpreter, Preval says he knows the people blame him for all the ills that have fallen on his country.
PREVAL: (Through translator) Here, I must say, I have extraordinary power.
KAHN: Breaking into English, Preval easily jokes.
PREVAL: What do you think?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KAHN: How do you want to be remembered?
PREVAL: I want to go home.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PREVAL: That's it.
KAHN: In our interview, Preval said he is proud to be the only elected president not forced into exile. He says he wants to be remembered for his achievements: increasing agricultural production, electricity and paving roads.
PREVAL: (Through translator) I don't have a style of leadership that is like show business. I prefer to work and be efficient.
KAHN: Author Amy Wilentz, who has written extensively about Haiti, says Preval likes to work behind the scenes, but keeps a tight fist on power.
AMY WILENTZ: He doesn't lead the Haitian people, what he does is sits on the Haitian political class. For that, you don't need to be so visible to the Haitian people, but you need to be wily and manipulative.
KAHN: Reached at her Miami office, Youri Mevs, who owns Haiti's largest private ports and warehouses, says she hopes the U.S. goes, quote, "all the way" to make sure the democratic transfer of power in Haiti continues.
YOURI MEVS: The man needs some help in leaving honorably, elegantly. He does need help in doing the right thing.
KAHN: On the streets of Port-au-Prince, patience for Preval is wearing thin.
JAMES EDWARD: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN)