WYCLEF SAY'S DESPITE RULING HE'LL STILL CONTINUE TO HELP HAITI!

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - Wyclef Jean didn't make the cut.
The Haitian-born hip-hop star cannot run for president in the country's Nov. 28 election, an electoral council ruled Friday night.

Singer-songwriter Jean, 40, an international celebrity who brought star power to the election in the impoverished and earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation, was left off the list of approved candidates.

Jean said the council told him he did not meet the residency requirement of having lived in the country for five years before the election.

The former Fugees frontman - who was born in Haiti, but left the country when he was 9 and grew up in New York and New Jersey - said he disagreed with the decision, but accepted it and urged his supporters to do the same.

"We must all honor the memories of those we've lost - whether in the earthquake, or at any time - by responding peacefully and responsibly to this disappointment," Jean said.

Jean, who had been appointed by President Rene Preval as Haiti's ambassador at large, said he would continue to fight for his country's interests.

"I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti's renewal; though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is where the heart is - and my heart has and will always be in Haiti," he said in a statement.

A spokesman said the council had rejected 15 people and accepted 19 candidates who filed to succeed Preval, who cannot run for a third term.