The African Union Assembly has retreated to cast their ballot in the firdst round of election to pick a new commission chairperson and his deputy.
Media has been barred from accessing the closed door session at the Nelson Mandela Hall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The vote is taking place shortly after closure of the opening ceremony of the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
“After the group photo, the Assembly will proceed into a closed session, and it is where the election of the next AUC Chairperson as well as the Deputy Chairperson will take place,” communication was relayed to the delegates.
“This session will not be televised and each Head of State will only be accompanied by two people, traditionally the Foreign Minister and Permanent Representative to the AU.”
Raila is seeking to succeed Moussa Faki as the AUC chairperson.
The former Prime Minister is facing Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, and Madagascar’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Randriamandrato in the elections.
On Friday, Ruto held meetings with presidents and heads of states on the sidelines of the summit in a last-minute campaigns for Raila.
Ruto also met the outgoing chair.
He also held discussions with presidents Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
(Equatorial Guinea), Bassirou Diomaye Faye (Senegal), João Lourenço (Angola),
Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Barbados Barbados Prime Minister Mia
Amor Mottley.
The chairperson is elected by member states, excluding countries under military rule.
The seat is held on a rotational basis among the five regions.
This time, the Eastern region is eligible to present a candidate for the chairmanship while the Northern region is supposed to present a deputy chairperson.
A panel of Eminent Africans, composed of five personalities, one per region, will oversee the pre-selection of candidatures for the senior leadership of the Commission.
"The Assembly of Heads of State and Government elects and appoints the chairperson and deputy chairperson during their Session on the 15-16 February 2025," AU said in an explainer.
The union added that in the election for the chairperson, deputy chairperson, and commissioners, voting continues until one of the candidates obtains the two-thirds majority.
"The voting process begins with all the candidates on the ballot. Voting is conducted three times and if the third ballot remains inconclusive without any candidate garnering the two-thirds majority, the next ballot shall be restricted to the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes and the candidate with fewer votes is withdrawn," AU said.
It explained that in the event there were only two candidates initially, and neither candidate obtains the majority required after the third ballot, the candidate with fewer votes is withdrawn and the remaining candidate proceeds to the next round.
"If the remaining candidate fails to obtain the two-thirds majority required in that round, the chairperson is required to suspend the election," AU said.
