Haiti Calm After Jean Is Rejected

By DAMIEN CAVE Published: August 21, 2010
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/21/world/americas/1248068894801/haitians-react-to-ruling-on-candidacy.html
MIAMI — The streets of Haiti remained calm on Saturday, a day after the country’s election officials ended the singer Wyclef Jean’s brief, electrifying run for president, suggesting that the distraction of politics had once again given way to the country’s struggle for survival.
A decision announced late on Friday prevented Mr. Jean from being among the approved candidates. And though tensions had been building throughout the day, with hundreds of Mr. Jean’s supporters rallying on his behalf and a large contingent of police officers on the streets, night fell and morning came on Saturday without protest or violence.
Gracia Thevenin, a businessman in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and a Jean supporter, said because the news of Mr. Jean’s denial had started leaking out early in the week, people were able to digest it.
“Everyone expected it,” Mr. Thevenin said, noting that it had been widely known that Mr. Jean had not met the requirement of having lived in Haiti for five consecutive years before the Nov. 28 elections. He left Haiti as a boy for the United States, where he was raised in Brooklyn. “Wherever you went, people said, ‘It looks like Wyclef isn’t going to be able to run.’ ”
Mr. Jean, the hip-hop artist and former frontman for the Fugees, had held out hope, sending out messages Thursday on Twitter that said he was still waiting for a formal decision. But when it came late Friday, he seemed prepared and accepted the ruling calmly.
In a statement on Friday night, he acknowledged that he had been rejected because he did not meet the residency requirement, which he had argued should be waived. He said that he was disappointed, but that he hoped his supporters would continue to work hard to help Haiti.
“We must all honor the memories of those we’ve lost — whether in the earthquake or at any time — by responding peacefully and responsibly,” he said.
It remained unclear what role, if any, he would play as the campaign moves forward. He pledged in his statement to “continue to work for Haiti’s renewal,” but he has given no hint whom of the 19 approved candidates he might support.
On Saturday, he attended a church service in his mother’s hometown outside the capital, according to The Associated Press, and prepared to fly back to the United States, where his wife and daughter live. He did not speak to the news media.
Some of Mr. Jean’s friends, including the novelist Edwidge Danticat, said that while his effort had been an inspiration, it was time to get back to work on improving the country.
“Now that the decision has been made, we must return to the less exciting and more somber business at hand, she wrote in The Miami Herald. “Nine million people, many of whom live in deplorable conditions in makeshift shelters, deserve no less.”
Vladimir LaGuerre contributed reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/world/americas/22haiti.html?_r=1&ref=haiti