PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP) - Haitian President-elect Rene Preval said yesterday that the constitution permits the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee into exile following a violent rebellion two years ago.

Preval, a former protégé of Aristide's who shares the ousted leader's strong support among the poor, said the former president could not be barred from returning to the volatile Caribbean nation.

"My position is simple on President Aristide and any other citizen who wants to come to Haiti," Preval, also a former president, said in his first news conference since he was declared the winner of the February 7 election. "Article 41 of the Haitian Constitution says that no Haitian needs a visa to enter or leave the country."

Aristide said Tuesday that he wanted to return from exile in South Africa, but said the timing of his arrival in Haiti would be up to "my president" and other leaders.

"The date of my return will emerge from consultations" among Preval, the United Nations, the Caribbean Community and his host, the South African government, the ousted leader said in an interview with international news agencies.

Asked if he had spoken to Preval, Aristide said "It's a private issue".

The United States and others have warned that the return of Aristide could further destabilise Haiti.

Preval, asked to clarify his position, declined to discuss Aristide's potential return in detail.

"Remember, you're talking to a president," he said at the modern, gated home of his sister in the hills east of the capital, Port-au-Prince. "Do you respect the constitution? The response isn't with me. It's with the constitution."

Preval also urged citizens to turn out in large numbers for the second round of legislative balloting and pledged to work with lawmakers in other parties while he seeks to restore security and attract private investment to Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

"I think the conditions are here to build this country together," he said referring to his political opponents.

Preval, an agronomist by training who served as president from 1996 to 2001, was declared the winner of the election after electoral authorities divided 85,000 blank votes among the candidates to avoid a run-off.

The move gave Preval 51 per cent of the vote needed for an outright victory, drawing complaints from his two closest rivals, neither of whom polled close to Preval's numbers in the February 7 vote.

Group 184, a coalition of business leaders and activists who were instrumental in the ouster of Aristide, have issued a statement calling Preval's election unconstitutional.

The president-elect brushed aside the criticism in his news conference. "We clearly have a winner in the first round of the presidential vote," he said. "Most competitors accepted this result, although there are some critics. It is normal."

Mothers can't father

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'