Michel Martelly and club owner in Haiti in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Martelly became associated with the neo-Duvalierist Haitian military and police, including figures such as police chief Michel François, and he agreed with the 1991 Haitian coup d'état against Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 1995, after Aristide had been restored to office, Martelly's name appeared on a hit list of coup supporters, and he stayed away from Haiti for almost a year. During this time, he released a song, "Prezidan" (on the album "Pa Manyen"), "an exuberant ditty that called for a president who played compas". However, he did not run
Jude Célestin results showed law professor and former first lady Mirlande Manigat in first place, with 31.4 percent of the vote. Célestin came next, with 22.5 percent, and singer Michel Martelly took third place with 21.8 percent. Widespread riots and reports of election fraud followed the announcement of these results. In December, Martelly supporters set fire to the INITE headquarters, located in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Pétion-Ville. On February 3, INITE was forced to drop Célestin from the race. On 4 April 2011, a senior official announced that Michel Martelly won the presidential run-off election against candidate Mirlande Manigat. His LAPEH party