Wyclef Jean confident he could have been president

Wyclef Jean believes he would have become President of Haiti if he had been allowed to run.

The former Fugees singer was forced to abandoned his bid to run the country - whose capital Port Au Prince was hit by a massive earthquake in January, leaving an estimated 230,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and over 1 million homeless - after being ruled ineligible by the electoral council (CEP) is convinced he would have got the votes and done a good job.

He said: "If by any remote chance they had let me pass, I would have won the elections.

"After the earthquake I was like, `I have to do something different for this country`. I said, `I can`t just keep singing.` "

Wyclef - who is believed to have been ruled ineligible to run for presidency because he hadn`t been a resident in Haiti for five years, a requirement for candidacy - believes his high-profile status would have cut down on corruption in the country`s political system.

He told The Guardian newspaper: "I felt that, if I ran for president, there would be too many eyes on the country for even the most corrupt to break the law. And in that aspect, I was wrong, because I got kicked out of the race before even running."

Wyclef also revealed how Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn - who has been heavily involved in the relief effort for Haiti - inspired him to get into politics.

He said: "When you enter the realm of politics, you don`t enter it because you want to be popular. When I want to be popular, I pull on a guitar and sing a song.

"The person whose opinion affected me was Sean Penn. I had a great conversation with Sean Penn last week and I look forward to going to Haiti and hopefully I can meet up with him."

sections: Celebrities