The Haitian-American hip hop star expressed disappointment at the late Friday ruling, but called on his followers to act “peacefully and responsibly.”
“Though I disagree with the ruling, I respectfully accept the committee’s final decision, and I urge my supporters to do the same,” the former Fugees frontman said in a statement.
Haiti’s electoral commission did not say why it had disqualified Jean, but the singer had faced a challenge to his candidacy in the Nov. 28 elections because he has not lived in Haiti for the past five years as required.
The commission approved 19 candidates and rejected 15 others.
While rejecting Jean, the board approved two leading presidential candidates, former Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and Yvon Neptune, who was the last prime minister under ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and has been active in helping to coordinate reconstruction efforts.
Also allowed to run are: Jude Celestin, head of the government’s primary construction firm and the candidate supported by President Rene Preval, and Michel Martelly, a well-known Haitian singer known as “Sweet Mickey.”
The electoral commission rejected the candidacy of US Ambassador Raymond Joseph, who is Jean’s uncle. Preval is barred running for re-election under the Constitution.
Dozens of police and UN peacekeepers in riot gear were stationed outside the electoral council office, but there were no signs of protests or unrest.
Jean, who gained famed as a member of the hip-hop musical group Fugees before building a solo career, had no political organization, not much of a following beyond his fans of his music and only a vague platform, casting himself as an advocate of Haiti’s struggling youth and saying he will ask donors to help the country’s education system. He also has faced criticism over alleged financial mismanagement at the charity he founded, Yele Haiti.
On the other hand, he has generated global attention to a race in which almost no one outside Haiti could even name any of the candidates.
