From stardom to politics: some precedents

By: 12 years ago

PARIS—World-renowned Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour, who announced late on Monday he is running for his country’s presidency, joins a long line of celebrities who sought the top job in their countries:

Former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada

Here are some precedents:

In the United States, B picture actor Ronald Reagan, who starred in Hollywood for more than two decades, was the first cinema star to enter the high echelons of politics. He was elected governor of California in 1966, before starting the first of two terms as US president in 1981.

In the Philippines, all-action tough guy movie star Joseph Estrada, who played in around 100 films, entered politics in 1969 and was elected president of his country in 1998 where he remained until 2001. He was then detained for six years and convicted of plundering state coffers before winning a pardon in 2007.

In Haiti popular carnival singer Michel Martelly — known to the country’s youth as “Sweet Micky” — won the April 2011 presidential election with more than 67 percent of votes.

Peru’s Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has had less success in politics, suffering a heavy defeat in the 1990 presidential election in his country at the hands of Alberto Fujimori.

In Europe, Vaclav Havel, a dramatist of international renown, was elected in 1989 the first president of what was then Czechoslovakia when communism collapsed. In early 1993 he was elected president of the new Czech Republic after the split from Slovakia. He retired 10 years later.

In Lithuania musician Vytautas Landsbergis, famous in his country, led the country to independence from the Soviet Union and was in 1990 elected as president.

In Senegal, a compatriot of Ndour, the poet and author Leopold Sedar Senghor, and an ambassador for black African culture around the world, became the republic’s first president upon independence in 1960.

In Liberia, George Weah, one of the best-known African football stars playing in Europe, unsuccessfully challenged current president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the 2005 presidential election in the country.