Thousands of Haitians outraged over what they claim was a rigged election are rioting in the streets of the capital and have set fire to the party offices of one of two presidential candidates that made it to a runoff.

The results of the Nov. 28 presidential election, announced Tuesday, saw popular candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly fall less than 1 percentage point behind Jude Célestin, the government-endorsed candidate.

The international airport in Port-au-Prince was shut down and schools and businesses were shuttered today as Mr. Martelly's supporters erected burning barricades in the streets and set fire to government offices in the capital and other cities. The Associated Press reports that the Unity party headquarters, the center of Celestin's campaign, was ablaze for an hour today.

Riot police prevented protesters fromattacking the office of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which delivered the election results Tuesday night. Ms. Manigat garnered 31.37 percent of the vote in the first round, Célestin took 22.48 percent, and Martelly took 21.84.

Manigat was expected to take the most votes. But in a surprise, Célestin surged into second place despite a weak showing in exit polls.

Supporters of Mr. Martelly, who was widely predicted to make it into the final race, quickly took to the streets in protest last night, reportedly setting up burning barricades. Other protests and gunfire were reported Tuesday night in various parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and rioting continued into Wednesday.

International electoral observers had said that they found no evidence of widespread fraud in the days following the poll, but the US