Michel Martelly 2007, he moved back to Haiti. In the process, when the mortgage/financial sector crashed, he defaulted on more than $1m in loans, losing 3 properties to foreclosure. Following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in January 2010, Martelly ran for President of Haiti in the general elections. He benefited from his celebrity status as a musician, and held musical rallies called koudjay (musical political endorsement rallies), drawing crowds and media attention. He challenged the results as to whether he placed second, making the runoff, or third. On 3 February 2011, it was announced that he would participate
Elections in Haiti cast in the first-round election. A second round was scheduled for March 20, 2011 with the two highest vote-getters, Mirlande Manigat and Jude Célestin. Protests claiming fraudulent voting resulted in the electoral commission removing Célestin from the race. This promoted Martelly from his original third-place finish in the first-round, to face Manigat in the run-off. The last presidential election was held on 28 November 2010 with a runoff on 20 March 2011. Michel Martelly won the runoff election held on 20 March 2011 with 67.6% of the vote against 31.7% for Mirlande Manigat and was sworn into office on 14