PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean said yesterday that he is not abandoning his presidential bid just yet and will try to get the courts to overturn a decision disqualifying him from the race.
Speaking by telephone from his home in Croix des Bouquets, Jean said his lawyers will file an appeal with the national electoral dispute office.
Jean said that he has a document “which shows everything is correct,’’ and that he and his aides “feel that what is going on here has everything to do with Haitian politics.’’
“They are trying to keep us out of the race,’’ Jean said, referring to Haiti’s political establishment.
Haiti’s elections board rejected Jean’s candidacy Friday night, presumably because it decided he had not met residency requirements, although the board did not cite a specific reason. Under Haitian law, a presidential candidate must have lived in the country for five consecutive years leading up to the election.
Jean has argued that he was not required to comply with the law so strictly because after President Rene Preval appointed him as roving ambassador in 2007, he was allowed to travel and live outside the country.
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