Hip-hop star is off the ballot in Haiti

The 40-year-old former Fugees front man was waiting in a hotel not far from where the electoral council was deliberating. About an hour before the candidate list was announced, Jean and his entourage left the hotel without speaking to the press.

Previously, Jean had said that he was optimistic that his candidacy would be accepted, especially since he met with Preval on Thursday.

It was unclear what, if any, impact the news would have on the Haitian people. Dozens of police and United Nations peacekeepers in riot gear were stationed outside the council office, but as journalists streamed out of the building following the announcement, there were no signs of protests or unrest.

One thing is certain: The singer brought sizzle to the election, attracting fresh attention to a country still devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“His candidacy certainly did shake things up,’’ said Laurent Dubois, a Haiti historian and professor at Duke University. “But it’s still a very important election whether Wyclef is in it or not.’’

The decision had been postponed once this week. Jean’s supporters had said they suspected members of Haiti’s political elite were trying to block his campaign.

Jean, who gained famed as a member of the Fugees before building a solo career, has no political organization, not much of a following beyond fans of his music, and only a vague platform, casting himself as an advocate of struggling youth and saying he would ask reconstruction donors to help bolster a dysfunctional education system.

The winner of the election will take charge of the recovery, coordinating billions of aid dollars in a country with a history of political turmoil and corruption. The quake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.