Raila OdingaFormer Prime Minister Raila Odinga has lost the African Union Commission chairperson race in an election held Saturday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf won the race after getting the requisite 33 votes in the 7th round of voting which he contested alone.
Raila had been dropped in the sixth round after he trailed Youssof in the sixth and fifth rounds.
Madagascar's Richard Randriamandrato was eliminated earlier after trailing the race in the first, second and third rounds leaving the race for Raila and Youssouf to face off.
In round one of the election, Raila got 20 votes, Youssouf 18 and Randriamandrato 10. One nation abstained.
Raila could not be declared the winner as a candidate is required to get 33 votes to clinch the seat.
In Round two, Raila got 22 votes, Youssouf 19 and Randriamandrato 7.
In Round Three, Youssouf took the lead with 23 votes, Raila 20 and Randriamandrato 5. One abstained.
Randriamandrato could not proceed in the fourth round as he was dropped setting the stage for Raila and Youssouf to face off.
Youssouf sustained the lead in the fourth round with 25 votes with Raila trailing him with 21 votes. Two votes were spoiled one another vote was an abstention.
The same trend continued in the fifth round where Youssouf got 26, and Raila 21 with two abstentions.
In the sixth round, Youssouf got 26 votes, Raila 22 and one nation abstained from voting.
At this point, Raila was dropped and Yousouf proceeded alone to the seventh round where he got the requisite 33 votes.
The election saw 49 member states participate with six other countries suspended.
The chairperson is elected by member states, excluding countries under military rule.
A candidate must garner a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, equivalent to 33 votes.
An AUC chairperson is elected by the Assembly for a four-year term, renewable once.
The seat is held on a rotational basis among the five regions, and this time, the Eastern region presented a candidate while the Northern region presented a deputy chairperson.
