PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti | The presidential campaign of musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly at first seemed like an afterthought, overshadowed by the short-lived run of the better-known star Wyclef Jean and dismissed as little more than a sideshow to an election that featured major Haitian political figures.
But Mr. Martelly, who has never held political office, turned out to be a serious, skilled and successful candidate. He captured nearly 68 percent of the vote, defeating opposition leader and former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to preliminary election results released Monday night.
When initial results of the flawed first round in November put him out of the race, Mr. Martelly mobilized supporters to protest as if he were a veteran of Haiti’s rough politics, and a new count got him a spot in the March 20 runoff. He ran a disciplined campaign, deftly depicting himself as an outsider and neophyte even though he has long been active in politics.
Thousands of supporters danced and cheered after his victory was announced. They ran through the streets, climbed atop cars and fired automatic rifles in the sky.
Carrying posters of his smiling face and bald crown, supporters showed up outside his gated compound in Petionville, a city in the hills above Port-au-Prince.
“Micky is a political animal, and the political establishment failed to realize how much of a phenomenon he is,” said Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor and publisher of the Haitian Times, a New York-based newspaper. “This is a man who literally can get a million people to move to his groove.”
Although supporters crowded outside his house, the pop-star-turned-candidate made no public statements except on Twitter, where he thanked his supporters and added: “We’re going to work for all Haitians. Together we can.”
Mrs. Manigat made no public statements.
To many Haitians, particularly the legions of young and jobless, Mr. Martelly is an outsider who can bring change to Haiti. “He knows the problems of the country,” said Gardy Success, 24, a marketer for a cellphone company in Port-au-Prince. “He’s aware of what’s going on.”
Those who backed Mrs. Manigat or other candidates doubt the pop star will be a break from the past. “He’s another politician,” Thomas Mercius, 39, who sells books on the street in the capital, said dismissively of the musician-turned-president.
Mr. Martelly inherits a country in crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake, the stalled internationally financed reconstruction and a cholera outbreak that may surge again with the rainy season.
And he will confront a Senate and Chamber of Deputies controlled by the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, whose chosen successor was ultimately excluded from the runoff, making way for Sweet Micky.
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