Djibouti’s Youssouf is AUC chairman

ADDIS ABABA: DJIBOUTI Foreign Affairs Minister, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf has emerged victorious by defeating the former Deputy President of Kenya, Raila Odinga in a highly competitive race for the African Union Commission’s chairmanship post.

Also lost in the race is a prominent politician from Madagascar, Richard Randriamandrato, who previously served as the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister.

The envoy from Madagascar looked a favourite candidate due to his influence and backing from the SADC member states.

Youssouf was declared the winner after several rounds of voting due to the 2/3 rule, which required the winner to secure 2/3 of the total 49 votes.

In the first round, Raila Odinga led, but failed to reach the 2/3 majority, which led to further rounds of voting. Richard Randriamandrato was eliminated in the second round, narrowing the contest to Odinga and Youssouf.

Youssouf led in rounds 3, 4, and 5 but still did not achieve the required two-thirds of the votes. In the fifth round, Youssouf received 25 votes against Odinga’s 21. Youssouf also won the sixth round with 26 votes to Odinga’s 22, which forced Odinga to withdraw from the race, leaving Youssouf to be voted in and finally won and declared the new Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC).