How the African Union failed to elect a new chairperson in Kigali

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How the African Union failed to elect a new chairperson in Kigali

7:58 CAT | 20 Jul 2016

File photo / Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will serve until the new election due in January 2017

The summit of heads of state and government of the African Union (AU) has failed to elect the successor to the current chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

An election was held on Monday, but none of the three candidates received the necessary two-thirds majority. As a result, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has had her term extended for another six months until fresh elections can be held in January when the next summit will be held in Addis Ababa.

In the first round of voting, Uganda’s former Vice President Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe was eliminated.

The second round of voting featured Botswana’s Foreign Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Equatorial Guinea’s Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy. However, with up to twenty abstentions (out of 54 heads of state and government), neither candidate received enough votes to take the post.

In addition, there was no consensus on the posts of vice-chair of the eight AU commissions.

The failure of any candidate to secure a large enough majority for the top post was not unexpected. The fifteen-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had written to the AU Commission calling for the postponement of the election, arguing that none of the candidates were sufficiently qualified for the job.

However, the opinion of the AU Commission’s director of legal affairs, Vincent Nmehielle, was that all countries had been involved in the nomination process and that the candidates were endorsed by independent experts. He added that the experts’ report was reviewed and approved by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Thus he saw no grounds for postponing the election.

Speaking to reporters on Monday after the end of the summit, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi told reporters that, “the candidate of Botswana was well placed with 23 votes, but this was not enough to be elected”.

President Nyusi added that the next AU summit will also elect two judges to sit on the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.

Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi explained to journalists on Saturday that only two judges had been elected for the four positions as all the candidates were male and there is a firm rule in favour of gender balance.

The summit, which ended on Monday, was held in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda under the theme “2016: African Year of Human Rights, with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women”.

Source: AIM