Residency rules may halt Wyclef Jean’s run for president of Haiti

New York: Wyclef Jean may not be legally entitled to run for president of Haiti because he has not lived in the country long enough. However, the hip-hop singer’s team has claimed that a celebrity career has kept him from living in Haiti for the required five years.

Jean’s supporters will follow the above argument to fend off questions by a review panel exploring whether Jean is legally entitled to run for president because of residency rules. Candidates for the top job are expected to have lived in the impoverished nation for at least five consecutive years prior to seeking office. Haiti`s electoral commission is expected to decide Friday which of the more than 30 candidates are eligible to run - a key hurdle to Jean`s political ambitions. "Prior can mean at any time," the New York Daily News quoted Wyclef`s brother Samuel Jean as saying. "Clef has property in Haiti. In terms of his career, he travels a lot. It would be hard to find him in one place for three months, let alone five years,” he added. Jean said lawyers representing his famous brother are arguing with officials to let him run. The star has recently been hiding out "in an undisclosed" location in Haiti because of death threats - a common occurrence in Haitian politics. "Like everyone else, he is waiting for the [panel`s] decision," said Samuel Jean. Wyclef left Haiti as a 9-year-old, moving to the Marlboro Houses in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn with his parents. ANI