To many observers, the election victory of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma against the incumbent, Mr Jean Ping, as Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) at the Summit in Addis Ababa on 15 July, came as a surprise.
After several delays to the original starting time for the elections, Dr Dlamini-Zuma secured a simple majority in the first three rounds before clinching the vote in the fourth and final round. Unofficial results indicate the following for Dr Dlamini-Zuma and Mr Ping respectively: 27-24 (first round), 29-22 (second round) and 33-18 (third round). In the confidence vote, during which the candidate with the least number of votes is required to withdraw, Dr Dlamini-Zuma achieved more than two-thirds with a respectable 37 out of 51 votes.
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