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By STEVENSON JACOBS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Apr 22, 2006 (AP)? Low voter turnout marked Haiti's runoff vote for a new parliament, indicating President-elect Rene Preval may have to work hard to reach out to rivals in forming a new government and keep the country on the path to democracy.

Friday's race for 127 parliamentary seats 97 deputies and 30 senators was billed as the final step restoring democracy to poorest nation in the Americas two years after an armed revolt ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But low turnout contrasted sharply with the frenzied Feb. 7 presidential race and first-round legislative election, in which throngs of eager voters braved long lines to elect Preval, who has vowed to work to bring peace and jobs to the traumatized nation. He takes power next month.

"I don't have a job and can't feed my kids or send them to school, so hopefully this government will give us a chance for a better life," said Espira St. Fleur, 56.

He was among several hundred people voting in a polling center in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil, where some election workers sat idle in front of half-empty ballot boxes as they waited for voters.

One person was shot and killed in polling violence in the northern town of Grand Saline, said Max Mathurin, president of Haiti's electoral council. He did not give further details.

In the same town, people broke into two polling stations and burned an unknown number of ballots, said David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission sent to restore order after Aristide's ouster.

Meanwhile in the capital, voting went smoothly except for isolated incidents of voter fraud and intimidation, officials said. Some voters in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil grew angry after being told they could not cast ballots because they were not on the voting list.

"Historically there's not a lot of turnout for legislative elections" in Haiti, said Wimhurst.

Preval's Lespwa party will likely take the most seats, but the 63-year-old agronomist needs to form a coalition government since no party has enough candidates to win a majority.