A Comissão da desUnião Africana

The much anticipated election showdown for the chairmanship of the African Union Commission, (secretariat of the Union), dubbed "David versus Goliath", did not turn out to end in the same way as that Biblical encounter had ended. Instead, it ended in a deadlock, with both gladiators barely able to land the knock-out punch. The election was between the incumbent chairperson, Dr. Jean Ping, and another formidable opponent, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a physician by professional with considerable political activism in the last more than 30 years. It pitted two countries, each with considerable wealth, Gabon verus South Africa - Gabon with oil wealth against South Africa, the economic colossus of Africa.

After African heads of state appointed the Chairman of the African Union, Benin's President Thomas Yayi Boni, on Sunday, 29th January, at their new swanky headquarters financed and built with funds estimated at $200 million from China as well as Chinese labor, they turned to the thornier task of electing the most powerful administrative officer of the African Union - the chairperson of the African Union Commission. The election itself engendered firsts: the first time a sitting chairperson or secretary-general as the post was known in the earlier era of the Organization of African Union; the first time a southern African was contesting the post, and finally the first time a female was a candidate for the post.

The chairmanship of the African Union itself had generated controversies in Nigeria, with the press speculating that Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan being defeated by the Beninois President. According to a media release from Jonathan's office, "1. It is not true that President Yayi Boni “defeated” President Goodluck Jonathan in an election; there was no contest in the first place and President Jonathan was not a candidate for the AU Chairmanship position.

2. It is also not true that President John Atta Mills opposed President Jonathan at any time. Ghana and Nigeria enjoy excellent relations.

3. It is true, however, that in the last week, some newspapers have been speculating that President Jonathan may be adopted by the ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments to be the next chairman of the African Union, since it was the turn of ECOWAS to produce the AU Chairman for 2012-2013. Mr. President was indeed approached by leaders within and outside the West African sub-region to take up the challenge of leading the AU for the next one year.

4. While appreciating this kind gesture, President Jonathan resolved that he needed time to focus on domestic affairs in Nigeria, and that it would be practically difficult for him to combine the three positions of President of Nigeria, Chairman of ECOWAS and Chairman of African Union. He therefore rejected the offer."

After trying for three times to choose a winner for the post of AU Commission chairperson, the Heads of State could not come to an agreement: they deadlocked - in other words none of the two candidates was able to secure the requisite two-thirds of the votes needed to win, which Dr. Ping had easily done in his first try in 2008, when he easily secured the vote with 34 countries voting for him. However, this time the vote went as follows: first round went 28 votes to 25, second round 27 to 26, and third round 29 to 24 votes. It is not understandable what happened to the remaining one vote as there are 54 countries in Africa as against the 53 that had been voting. After these votes, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma was forced by African Union rules to pull out, leaving Dr. Ping as the lone candidate. But still, he could not secure the requisite two-thirds of the vote or votes from 35 countries, needing about 6 countries to switch their votes to him to win the two-thirds.

The South African delegation had broken into a song and dance after the fourth vote resulted in a no winner. In a pre-vote speech, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma said that if elected she would "spare no effort in building on the work of those African women and men who want to see an African Union that is a formidable force striving for a united, free, truly independent, better Africa."

The results of the election itself laid to rest the rumors that had been swirling around Jean Ping's candidacy, that he was withdrawing his candidacy in the face of a determined opposition, or that his country's government was withdrawing support for him. These rumors had been defiantly denied by the Gabonese government. After these rumors, the Gabonese government mounted a counter-attack, sending out emissaries to different countries to solicit support for their candidate or holding major press conferences in Addis Ababa and New York seriously challenging the notion of non-support for Jean Ping, accusing some international and African media of spreading vicious rumors.

The election also exposed some fault-lines between francophone African nations and the rest of the continent. There are officially 21 french-speaking African countries, minus countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Angola, Cape Verde, or even Libya, where though they officially speak other languages tend to have french as back-up language. If this happened to be the case, you are looking at a potentially solid 28 votes by language alone.

The question really is whether Africa could continue to allow European hegemonic influence to play a major role in how the continent positions itself as both of these two candidates possess a wealth of experience that should be the determining factor and not whether they are supported by France as had been rumored about Jean Ping or NATO as was rumored for Dlamini-Zuma. Both Jean Ping and Dlamini-Zuma served as foreign ministers for their respective countries for 10 years, with Ping serving as President of the United Nations General Assembly for one year. Dr. Dlamini-Zuma is now the Home Affairs Minister in South Africa, and the former wife of President Jacob Zuma.

Immediately after the deadlocked vote, it had been announced that the Deputy Chair of the African Union Commission, Ambassador Erasmus Mwencha, would become Acting Chair of the commission. However, after hours of further deliberations, the AU decided to extend Jean Ping's mandate for another six months until the next summit scheduled for June this. year in Malawi. It seems that South Africa's foreign minister had pushed for Mwencha to take over as acting Chair. However, in another twist to what is seen as deep divisions within the Union, the new AU Chairperson Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni informed reporters in Addis Ababa that "The elections were suspended in line with the provisions of our statute so we took the decision to extend the term of office of the chairperson, the deputy and his commissioners."

South Africa has vowed to re-field Dr. Dlamini-Zuma's candidacy in the June election. Whether the six months extension of Dr. Ping's mandate is enough to consolidate his position and allow him to win then, will be the challenge. The African Sun Times, Nova Jérsia