Wyclef Jean to run for president in Haiti‎

Hip hop star Wyclef Jean has formally registered to stand for president of his native Haiti as it rebuilds after the devastating January earthquake.

Dozens of supporters greeted him as he arrived with his wife and daughter at an electoral council office in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The deadline to file candidacy papers for the 28 November poll is Saturday.

Mr Jean, who lives in the US, will now have to prove he is eligible to run under Haitian law.

A review board will verify that his candidacy meets constitutional requirements, including having lived in Haiti for five consecutive years leading up to the election and never having held foreign citizenship.

The singer, who grew up in the US, holds a Haitian passport and has US residency. He says his appointment as a roving ambassador for the country in 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement.

Mr Jean filed papers to run as a candidate for the Viv Ansanm (Live Together) political party.

If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this”

“I would like to tell [US] President Barack Obama that the United States has Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean,” he told a rally of supporters in Port-au-Prince.

Earlier this week, he stepped down from the Yele Haiti charitable foundation for Haitian children he set up, which recently came under scrutiny over its finances.

Other declared candidates include former diplomat Garaudy Laguerre and Raymond Joseph, who is Haiti’s current ambassador to the US and Mr Jean’s uncle.

The sitting President, Rene Preval, is barred by the constitution from seeking a new term.

If Mr Jean runs and wins, he will preside over the spending of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid.

Mr Jean, the frontman of 1990s hip hop group The Fugees, is hugely popular in Haiti, where half of the population is under 21.

“If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this,” Mr Jean added.

Mr Jean is Haiti’s ambassador-at-large, and has played a prominent role in securing aid since the earthquake, which left 1.5 million people homeless. – (BBC)