Wyclef Jean said to be out of Haiti presidential race

Haiti's presidential candidate and hip hop singer Wyclef Jean, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his mother's house in Croix de Bouquets, Haiti, on Wednesday, Aug. 18. AP

Ex-Fugees member is not on the list of approved candidates for Nov. 28 election, an electoral council member has said

Last updated on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010 7:59PM EDT
Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean’s bid to become the next president of Haiti has apparently been quashed.
There are 34 presidential contenders and Haiti’s provisional electoral council is due to decide on the final list of candidates on Friday.
A member of Haiti’s provisional electoral council told Reuters on Thursday that Mr. Jean was not on the list of approved candidates who satisfy legal requirements to run in the election.
The comments came after Mr. Jean met with Haitian President Rene Preval for more than two hours on Thursday.
Mr. Jean told the Associated Press that he felt the exchange with Rene Preval was positive.
“I feel good,” the former Fugees frontman said. “I feel that the president that I voted for five years ago is the same person that was sitting in front of me today.”
The country’s electoral council, which is known as the CEP, was supposed to release the presidential candidate list on Tuesday, but postponed the decision.
For several days, Haitians, bloggers and international media have speculated whether Mr. Jean will be on the list. Under Haitian law, candidates for president must reside in the country for five years prior to taking office.
After meeting with Mr. Preval, Mr. Jean was confident that he will be allowed to campaign.
“It looks like it's leaning that way,” Mr. Jean said.
While Reuters news agency was reporting Mr. Jean’s absence from the list, a spokesman for the CEP, Richardson Dumel, told the Associated Press on Thursday evening that “the list is not yet final” and added that he cannot disclose who has made the cut.

Mr. Jean, 40, who emigrated to Brooklyn when he was nine and lived in the New York City borough’s Flatbush neighborhood for several years, spent three days in Haiti after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake and has helped raised millions of dollars for relief efforts.

Mr. Jean carries a Haitian passport, but has U.S. permanent residence status and has lived in New Jersey since he was a teenager.

More than 250,000 Haitian-Americans are believed to live in New York City. Haitian ex-pats had mixed reactions to Mr. Jean’s speculated exclusion from the race.

“He doesn’t have enough experience to lead Haiti,” said barber Patrick Goby, 42, who left his homeland 11 years ago. “He has shown he is a good nationalist, but that’s not enough for the people living in Haiti.”

“Being an entertainer doesn’t make you a politician,” said hotel manager Ernest Semexamt, 52, as he got a haircut in a barber shop in Flatbush on Thursday. Outside on Norstrand Avenue, Haitian flags fluttered above the traffic.

“Just because he collected money to help the people, that doesn’t give you qualifications to become president of a country,” said Mr. Semexamt, who has lived in the United States for 32 years. “It’s a terrible idea for everyone.”

Haiti’s electoral law requires candidates to have five consecutive years of residency in Haiti, among other requirements, such as tax compliance. Mr. Jean has said he meets those requirements.

His lawyers say he has maintained a “constant presence” in Haiti since 2005, and argue his appointment in 2007 as a roving “ambassador-at-large” for Haiti involved some inevitable absences from the country
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/wyclef-jean-out-of-haiti-presidential-race/article1679059/?cmpid=tgc
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