Schoolhouse charts of past leaders are crowded with monthslong presidencies and group shots of the military juntas that overthrew them. Heads of state have been flown into exile, crowned themselves emperor or been killed more often than they have completed constitutional five-year terms. One president was torn limb from limb by an angry mob.
Whoever wins the Nov. 28 election will face the Herculean task of rebuilding from the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 earthquake that killed a government-estimated 300,000 people while managing billions in international reconstruction dollars amid feuding officials, families and an estimated 1.6 million earthquake homeless, all hungry — some more literally than others — for their share.
Jean is expected to announce his bid for the presidency on Thursday from Haiti.
After the Associated Press first reported that an announcement was coming, the singer’s brother, Samuel Jean, said the Haitian-American family was going into the process with its eyes open and breath held.
“It’s not something that was taken lightly, it’s not a joke, it’s something very, very serious,” the younger Jean said by phone from his consultancy office in Los Angeles.
Scores of candidates are expected to compete for the presidency in the November contest.
Among them is Jean’s uncle Raymond Joseph, who is Haiti’s ambassador in Washington. Other likely candidates include former prime ministers, mayors and another popular Haitian musician, Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly.
Former Chamber of Deputies leader Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques told the AP the hip hop artist will run as part of his coalition in the election.
Controversy already surrounds the election, as opponents accuse President Rene Preval of stacking the deck for an as-yet-unamed candidate of his recently formed Unity party. He has ignored calls from US senators and others to reform the eight-member electoral council.
The party of ousted ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide — who was flown into African exile in 2004 aboard a U.S. plane — was barred from running based on a technicality. It is expected to be banned again this year.
