His presidencies were marked by domestic tumult and attempts at economic stabilization, with his latter term seeing the destruction brought by the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

[5][6] His father Claude Préval, an agronomist also,[3] had risen to the position of Minister of Agriculture in the government of Général Paul Magloire, the predecessor of Duvalier.

[5] After spending five years in Brooklyn, New York, occasionally working as a restaurant waiter, Préval returned to Haiti and obtained a position with the National Institute for Mineral Resources.

While operating his company, he continued to be active in political circles and charity work, such as providing bread to the orphanage of Salesian Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, with whom he developed a close relationship.

[3][8] After the election of Aristide as president in 1990, Préval served as his prime minister from 13 February to 11 October 1991, going into exile following the 30 September 1991 military coup.

[6] His presidency, however, was also marked by fierce political clashes with a parliament dominated by opposition party members (OPL) and an increasingly vocal Fanmi Lavalas, which opposed the structural adjustment and privatization program of Préval's government.

[citation needed] Préval was a strong supporter of investigations and trials related to human rights violations committed by military and police personnel.

On 16 February 2006, Préval was declared the winner of the presidential election by the Provisional Electoral Council with 51.15% of the vote, after the exclusion of "blank" ballots from the count.

[20] After taking office, Préval immediately signed an oil deal with Venezuela and travelled to the United States, Cuba, and France.

However, many of the poor demanded that former President Aristide be allowed to return and that civil enterprise workers fired by the Latortue government be reinstated.

Préval met with many Latin American leaders such as Fidel Castro, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Martín Torrijos of Panama, and Leonel Fernández of the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

Relations with the Dominican Republic were strengthened largely due to Préval's willingness to end volatile temperaments and to the two presidents' focus on cooperation.

[25] On 12 April, the Senate voted to remove Prime Minister Alexis from office, and Préval announced that the price per 23 kg of rice would be reduced from $51 to $43.

However, later reports – including ones quoting the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Alcide Joseph – said that the President and First Lady Elisabeth Delatour Préval had escaped unharmed and had been moved to a safe location on the island.

[31] Préval retired to his home in Marmelade, where he worked on projects which included an agricultural co-operative, an education centre and a juice factory.

His cause of death was initially announced as a cardiac arrest, but rumours of foul play resulted in an autopsy, conducted in front of District Attorney Danton Leger, at the request of Elisabeth Delatour.