Wyclef Jean reportedly ineligible to run for president of Haiti

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Apparently, Wyclef Jean won’t be gone till November after all. Earlier this month, the former Fugees rapper and philanthropist announced his candidacy to be the next president of Haiti, but according to a Reuters report, his bid does not satisfy legal requirements to make the official ballot in November.

The 37-year-old musician has come under fire in recent weeks for the decision, with Sean Penn lambasting his decision and Win Butler of the Arcade Fire comparing Jean’s bid to ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger only speaking Austrian and being elected president of the United States after New York and L.A. had burned to the ground.’

Even his former bandmate, Pras, assailed Jean’s lack of fluency in French and Creole as a chief impediment to tackling the complex workings of the Haitian government and dealing with the country’s problems of poverty and a crumbled infrastructure, in the wake of the cataclysmic earthquake that struck in January.

According to the Reuters report, Jean did not meet the proper residency requirements, namely, five consecutive years of residency prior to being eligible to run. Jean has yet to comment publicly on the reports.

As of earlier this week, he had reportedly been in hiding after several threats to his life -- presumably using this song as his theme music.

-- Jeff Weiss