Visiting Haitian president-elect Rene Preval asked Brazil on Friday to keep its troops in Haiti as part of the United Nations stabilization mission, local media reported.

Preval, who arrived in Brasilia on Friday as part of his American tour, asked Brazilian legislators in a speech in Brazil's congress, to support the decision taken by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to keep the troops in his country.

Later on Friday, Preval met President Lula and Interim Foreign Minister Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes. He is to stay in Brazil until Saturday, when he will fly to Chile to attend the inauguration ceremony of new Chilean President Michelle Bachelet .

A former ally of deposed president Jean Bertrand Aristide, Preval narrowly gained victory as the candidate of the Lespwa (Hope) party in the country's elections in February, after a two-year-long social and political crisis.

Brazil's troops played an important role in the elections, making sure that Preval was declared victor. Preval obtained just short of 50 percent in the first round, and the situation had once become tense as other candidates refused to recognize his victory.

Preval is due to take office on March 29, but there are signs that he might postpone his inauguration till the completion of the second round of legislative elections. Haiti's constitution prescribes that the inauguration must take place before a full parliament.

Brazil is the first stop of Preval's American tour, which will also take him to Chile, Argentina, and the United States.

Source: Xinhua