Wyclef Still Fighting To Run For President

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean has denied assertions from the Haitian electoral council that he is not eligible to run for the Haitian presidency.

Jean, a Haitian native who has lived most of his life in the United States, was recently left off the list of candidates eligible to run in Haiti's upcoming presidential election.


"The electoral council is very corrupted", Jean told MSNBC by phone Tuesday. "We have a piece of paper we will send you within the next hour that will show that Wyclef Jean has had residency and domain in Haiti for the past five years. The reason why I'm appealing is -- understand what's going on -- if I let this get through, you have kids that are 8 and 9 years old in Haiti that are prostitutes. The government doesn't care about them. You have the kidnapping situation in Haiti. It's important that I unveil the truth in the corruption of the electoral council in Haiti going on right now."

Asked how much time he has actually spent in Haiti in the past five years, Jean told MSNBC: "I've been in Haiti back and forth. And let me give you something else. The president who ran for president in 2006, I voted for him with an electoral card. I could not have voted for the president if I did not have residence in Haiti, just so you be clear."

Jean said the reason critics don't want him to run is because his form of leadership would be a "21st century one where our focus would be on education for the youth."

"They're supposed to give free education and job creation. And they want everything to go through a monopoly", Jean said.