The African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson election is less than ten days away, and candidates are wrapping up their campaigns, touring nations across the globe to gather all the support that they can get before the election day.
The African Union has revealed that the highly-anticipated elections will be conducted on February 15 and 16.
The elections, according to the commission’s officials will follow by the election of the six commissioners on February 12 and 13.
According to the commission statutes, the Assembly elects the chairperson and deputy chairperson while the Executive Council elects the commissioners, who are appointed by the Assembly.
The Executive council in this case is the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs or such other ministers or authorities as designated by the governments of member states.
The commission members’ terms are for four years, with the possibility of one renewal.
A Panel of Eminent Africans, consisting of five prominent figures, one from each region, will be responsible for overseeing the pre-selection of candidates for the Commission’s senior leadership.
Breakdown of Voting Process
Voting shall commence with the election of the chairperson followed by the deputy and thereafter the Assembly shall appoint the commissioners elected by the Executive Council.
On election day, the heads of state vote in three rounds. If no candidate gets two-thirds of the votes by the third round, the next vote will only involve the top two candidates with the most votes, and the one with fewer votes will be dropped out.
If there are only two candidates to begin with and neither achieves the required majority after the third round, the candidate with fewer votes is eliminated, and the remaining candidate moves on to the next round.
If the remaining candidate does not secure the two-thirds majority needed in that round, the Chairperson must suspend the election.
If there is only one candidate initially and they fail to acquire the two-thirds majority required after the third round, the current Chairperson must suspend the election. The deputy chairperson will then assume the role of chairperson on an interim basis until new elections are held.
In the event candidates drop from the race before the election and only one is left, he or she will still require two-thirds majority votes.
Kenya is among the three countries that have presented candidate for the AUC chairperson position, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The former premier will be contesting against Mahmoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato.
More than 20 countries have pledged support for Odinga, but he will need a two-thirds majority, consisting of 33 votes, to secure the coveted seat.
