Wyclef Jean has gone into hiding following alleged death threats as he awaits an official announcement on whether he can run in Haiti's November's presidential election.
The ex-Fugees star said he was at a secret location in Haiti in defiance of threats to leave the country but revealed few details about who may be responsible for the intimidation.
Jean's presidential hopes hang in the balance as electoral officials prepare to announce whether he is eligible to run in what promises to be a tumultuous contest with dozens of candidates.
A list of candidates who meet constitutional requirements to lead the earthquake-hit country – requirements that could disqualify Jean – was due to be published yesterday but officials said several unnamed candidates remained under review and that the announcement would not be made until Friday.
In a series of emails to the Associated Press, the 40-year-old rapper said he did not know whether the electoral commission, known as the CEP, would approve his candidacy but that there had been questions about whether he met residency requirements: "We await the CEP decision but the laws of the Haitian constitution must be respected."
His lawyers were at the commission's headquarters seeking to argue his case, he said. In the same emails he announced he was in hiding but did not elaborate on the nature of the threats.
If approved, Jean will be a frontrunner, but the fact he has lived in the US since he was a boy could put a premature end to a campaign launched two weeks ago with fanfare, dancers and hype.
Legal requirements and political intrigue – few believe the decision will be based on entirely technical reasons – could sink his hopes of swapping a recording studio for power in a broken country.
Jean was born in Croix-des-Bouquets, outside the capital Port-au-Prince. At the age of nine he moved with his family to New York, then New Jersey, and made only fleeting return visits to the Caribbean.
Opponents said his history violated constitutional requirements that a candidate must have his or her "habitual residence" in Haiti and have resided in the country for at least five consecutive years before election day. Jean said his appointment as a roving ambassador by President Rene Preval in 2007 exempted him from residency requirements.
The race has drawn 34 candidates from diverse backgrounds, including veteran political operators and one-man band neophytes.
"This is a very volatile situation. The easiest thing they can say is 'You are all candidates'. But I don't know if they will do that," Robert Fatton, a Haiti-born political expert at the University of Virginia, told the news website Haitian Truth. "It's going to be fascinating to see how many are in the race after 17 August."
The Unity party of Preval, who is stepping down as president, has backed Jude Celestin, head of the government's primary construction firm, as his successor.
The party had been expected to back a former prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who instead registered with a different party, the Mobilisation for Haitian Progress. The horse-trading suggested that murky deals as much as votes could determine the election outcome.
Fresh doubts about Jean's fitness for office arose today from a New York Times investigation into apparent mismanagement and questionable accounting at his charity, Yele Haiti. The newspaper alleged the charity had failed to deliver water as it had claimed to several camps of earthquake survivors, and that some donations vanished into blurred lines between Jean's business, political and charity endeavours. He denies any wrongdoing.
Yesterday his public relations representative, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, announced without explanation that it had resigned from all public relations work for Yele and Jean's presidential campaign.
The musician has batted away doubts about his suitability for office. "Celebrity has taught me that politics is politricks. The fact that I'm coming with this with fresh eyes but not naive ears, I think that's a good start."
Source: The Guardian
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