PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti _ As thousands of supporters shouted "Here is our father," former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appeared through a sunroof of a gray SUV in front of a public plaza in Petionville during a rare public appearance Monday.
Aristide came out in support of his Fanmi Lavalas political party candidate, Maryse Narcisse, who stood next to him and waved to the cheering crowd.
"While (presidential candidate) Jovenel Moise is campaigning with Guy Philippe in the Grand Anse, Aristide will be campaigning with Maryse Narcisse," said Narcisse's campaign manager, Leslie Voltaire.
Philippe is a former top Haitian National Police official who is in a runoff for the Senate. He's also wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for drug trafficking and has been accused of attacking a police station in the city of Les Cayes earlier this year.
It was only Aristide's fifth public outing since returning to Haiti from South Africa in 2011, where he spent seven years in his second political exile.
He remains a popular figure in Haiti, though a reclusive one. The official campaigning for the Oct. 9 elections began last Tuesday and will end two days before the vote. There are 27 presidential candidates.
