Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean has formally announced his intention to contest the forthcoming presidential election in his native country.
The people of Haiti go to the polls at the end of November to elect a new leader.
The country is still trying to recover after the devastating earthquake last January.
40-year-old Wyclef Jean, who grew up in the US, said he had planned to run for office in five years' time, but the catastrophe made him decide to put his name forward sooner.
In an interview with CNN, hours after registering his candidacy, Mr Jean said he felt as though he had been 'drafted' by the Haitian people to give them 'a piece of the dream that I got in America'.
'There's a crowd behind me right now with so much excitement, because they feel hope is on its way', he added.
Wyclef Jean filed papers at the electoral council to run as a candidate for the Viv Ansanm (Live Together) political party.
The registration was required ahead of a Saturday filing deadline and authorities now have until 17 August to approve or reject his candidacy for the 28 November ballot.
The singer-songwriter has never held elected office, but is widely admired in Haiti and credited with never having forgotten his Haitian roots.
However, humanitarian activist and actor Sean Penn expressed doubts about Jean's candidacy and his motivation for going forward.
Sean Penn has spent much of his time in Haiti running a relief camp since January's quake.
He said he was concerned that the singer would be largely backed by US corporate interests who were part of the problem in Haiti's past.
Haiti's outgoing President René Préval, who cannot seek re-election, has been widely criticised for failing to aid victims of the quake and for being slow to launch a credible start to the huge task of rebuilding the country.
His election in 2006 brought a measure of stability to a country torn by decades of dictatorship, military rule, political upheaval and gang violence.
But Haitians, who mostly earn less than $2 a day and live in poverty, complain they are worse off than ever since the quake.
The 12 January earthquake has been described by some experts as one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern history.
As many as 300,000 people were killed and some 1.5m people were left homeless in makeshift tent cities.
