Election of AUC chief postponed after fierce contest
The election of the chairperson of the African Union Commission has been postponed to July this year during the next AU summit.
After three rounds of fierce competition, none of the two candidates; incumbent AUC Chairperson Jean Ping and Ms. Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, current interior minister of South Africa - got the required two-thirds of votes. The AUC then decided to suspend the election.
The current deputy chairperson of the AUC, Erastus Mwencha from Kenya, will run the commission until the 19th summit in Malawi in July. An AUC source says Jean Ping stayed ahead of Dlamini- Zuma in the three rounds of voting. In the first round, "it was 28 votes against 25, which did not give him an absolute majority.
In the second round, Jean Ping won 27 votes while the South African candidate got 26. In the third round, they obtained 29 and 24 votes respectively.
According to the AU's rule, the chairperson must get a majority of two thirds of votes from members with the right to vote, that is, member states that are not under sanction. If not, automatically, a following round is imposed.
The Closed-door voting was held in the conference hall of the newly inaugurated AU Conference Center. Meanwhile Zambian President Michael Sata said following the postponement of the election of the AUC chief on Monday that unresolved election for a new president of the African Union Commission (AUC) does not mean that the continent is divided.
Accra, May 21, 2012
Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings might be having second thoughts about the NDC logo she so badly needs after the revelations by lega... 
Accra, May 21, 2012
Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday cautioned that government would introduce stringent measures against the production ... 