PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean registered as a presidential contender on Thursday, in a move into politics that generated an outburst of popular enthusiasm in his poor, earthquake-ravaged homeland. “I would like to tell (U.S.) President Barack Obama that the United States has Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean,” the three-time Grammy award-winner, who is 40, told cheering supporters in a downtown area of Port-au-Prince.
“This is the only president who will dance when Creole hip-hop is being played,” Jean said in a speech after formally declaring his candidacy for the Nov. 28 presidential election.
He filed papers at the electoral council to run as a candidate for the Viv Ansanm (Live Together) political party, as excited young supporters clad in white T-shirts packed the surrounding streets, which still bore the scars of a devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. The registration was required ahead of a Saturday filing deadline and authorities now have until Aug. 17 to approve or reject his candidacy for the Nov. 28 ballot. “If his candidacy is approved, I think he’s going to be the next president,” said Saurel Magloire, who was among those gathered outside the electoral council.
Since former populist President Jean-Bertrand Aristide ran for the country’s top job in 1990, Magloire said he had never seen such a big outpouring of public support.
Jean, standing and waving to onlookers from the open sun-roof of his sport utility vehicle, drew repeated chants of “Long Live Wyclef” and “President Jean” as his impromptu motorcade later wound its way through the densely packed streets of the capital.
It was an extraordinary homecoming for Jean, who had flown into Haiti with his wife and young daughter and other relatives on a private jet from their home in the United States.
Singer-songwriter Jean has never held elective office but is widely admired in Haiti and credited with never having forgotten his Haitian roots.
The former Fugees star, best known for his work with Colombian pop star Shakira and their 2006 mega-hit “Hips Don’t Lie,” was born in Haiti but grew up in New York.
