The leaders of the African Union have chosen the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti, Mohamud Ali Yusuf, as the new President of the African Union in a multi-round election that took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mohamud Ali Yusuf, who has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti since 2005, faced tough competition from Raila Odinga, the former Prime Minister of Kenya, whose government campaigned hard for him.
The international screens, especially the African media, have been broadcasting live about six rounds of voting between Yusuf, Odinga, and Richard Randriamandrato from Madagascar.
The sixth round was disqualified and forced Odinga to leave the race after he got 22 votes while Yusuf got 26 votes.
While it is mandatory that the person who becomes the Chairperson of the African Union is required to receive two-thirds of the votes of the African countries, Mohamud Ali Yusuf alone went to the seventh round, which resulted in him gaining the votes needed to become the Chairperson.
Speaking to the media last night after the election in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, Odinga congratulated Mohamud on his victory and said “I accept the result of the vote. Therefore, I myself accept defeat”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti Mohamed, who has now become the Chairperson of the African Union, will replace Moussa Faki Mahamat from Chad.
All the countries of the continent were not voting, there are countries that did not participate in the voting, those countries these six countries are Niger, Mali, Guinea, Gabon, Burkina Faso and Sudan, and these countries were prevented from voting due to coups and civil wars.
