AU Commission chair election suspended

Jul 18, 2016

None of the three candidates got the required 2/3 majority.

The election of a new chairperson of the AU Commission was suspended Monday after none of the people contesting for the position got the majority votes in the initial voting.

After three rounds of voting, none of the three candidates vying for the top job secured the required two-thirds majority.

Each of the three candidates had hoped to replace South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is stepping down after four years at the helm.

They are: Uganda's former Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, Botswana's former Foreign Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Equatorial Guinea's former Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy.

Rule 42 of the rules of procedure suggests that the deputy chairperson takes responsibility in case of suspension of elections.

It is understood that 23 out of 53 voted in favour of Botswana's Pelonomi Benson. Ugandan representative Kazibwe got the least number of votes.

Following Monday's unsuccessful process, the new Commission chair will be elected at the next summit in January next year in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

Earlier, some member states had proposed that the elections be pushed to January.

President Idris Derby of Chad, who is the chairperson of the AU, presented the matter of postponement which he said had come from some member states. But after discussion, he said rules must be followed, not bent.

Dlamini-Zuma, who is stepping down from the chair, is the ex-wife of South African president Jacob Zuma.

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