The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti, Mohamud Ali Yusuf, has won the election for the position of the Chairperson of the African Union, which took place today 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.
About six rounds of voting between Yusuf, Odinga, and Richard Randriamandrato from Madagascar took about seven rounds, Richard was eliminated after the third round.
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 total votes of African countries, Mohamud Ali Yusuf alone went to the seventh round.
Many people predicted that Raila Odinga, who is widely known in Africa, is the candidate expected to win, but analysts believe that Yusuf has been running his campaign in a low-key manner.
