PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is trying to rebuild his political party as the Caribbean nation prepares for legislative and local elections, a prominent hotelier said Sunday.

Richard Morse, manager of the Hotel Oloffson, said he has met with Aristide three times in the past two weeks to discuss the possibility of his wife, Lunise Exume Morse, running under Aristide’s party as a senatorial candidate in a vote that’s supposed to be held by year’s end. His wife attended two of the meetings, and the couple and wife also met with a leader of Aristide’s Lavalas Family party, Morse said.