Singer Wyclef has launched his bid to run for Haiti's president. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Hip-hop superstar Wyclef Jean has flown out of Haiti barely 24 hours after announcing his bid for the Haitian presidency.

"I am leaving because of family obligations, but I will return in several weeks to enter the electoral campaign," the New York-based singer, speaking in Creole, told reporters at Port-au-Prince airport on Friday.

The Grammy-winning former Fugees frontman has little experience in politics but on Thursday he joined the race for the Nov. 28 election, saying it is his chance to save a country brought to its knees by poverty and January's earthquake.

He announced his intention to run on a Miami radio station, then flew into Port-au-Prince to file the appropriate papers.

He said he supports the U.S. and UN vision for rebuilding Haiti's economy after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

But even as he entered a race that already had 14 candidates, 40-year-old Jean was hitting obstacles. Questions have been asked about a pop singer's suitability for pulling Haiti back from disaster — and whether he's even eligible to run.

The Haitian constitution says presidential candidates must have lived at least five consecutive years in Haiti leading up to election day. The country's elections board will decide Aug. 17 whether Jean, whose family moved to New York when he was nine, qualifies.

U.S. actor Sean Penn, who has been running a 55,000-person tent camp through his J/P Haitian Relief Organization, voiced his concerns about Jean's administrative qualifications, alleging he mishandled earthquake relief donations and has been absent from the country.

"I'm not accusing Wyclef Jean of being an opportunist; I don't know the man," Penn said on CNN's Larry King Live on Thursday. "One of the reasons I don't know much about Wyclef Jean is that I haven't seen or heard anything of him in these last six months that I've been in Haiti."

Jean has faced questions about whether his Yéle Haiti Foundation siphoned off charity money that could have gone to the hundreds of thousands of people left destitute by the January earthquake.

Earlier this year, he broke down in tears after denying the foundation had misused funds, as suggested by a 2006 tax return showing that more than a third of its revenues went to cover miscellaneous expenses.

Jean resigned as the group's chair on Thursday, before declaring his candidacy.

There are also questions about his personal finances. The Smoking Gun website reported Jean owes $2.1 million US in back taxes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. But Jean told The Associated Press the money would be repaid and his finances made public within days.

Jean has expressed concerns for his safety during an election campaign because the impoverished country has a history of political violence.

But, he said, "You have two choices — either sit back thinking of the danger or do something to move your country forward."

With files from The Associated Press