The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) will hold elections for members of the Bureau on the 25th March 2024. The elections will fill the positions of President, First Vice President, and Fourth Vice President of the Bureau, which fell vacant following elections and unconstitutional changes of government in some of the African Union Member States.
The elections will take place as part of the agenda of the PAP Extraordinary Session scheduled from the 20th to 27th of March 2024, at the Parliament's Headquarters in Midrand, South Africa.
The convening of Extraordinary Session of the PAP is an outcome of the Executive Council decisions of the African Union Summit held in February 2024. The ministerial session, in deliberating the worrying situation at the Pan-African Parliament, called for the urgent convening of the Extraordinary session to fill the vacant positions. The African Union Commission will oversee the election process of Bureau members to ensure transparency and independence, following the guidelines developed by the Office of the Legal Counsel.
Hon. Lucia Dos Passos, Acting President of the PAP, notes that the Extraordinary Session will signal the full resumption of Parliamentary activities and set the PAP on the process of fully contributing to the promotion of policies and programs of the AU, including the theme of the year 2024, in line with the Parliament's mandate. PAP is the legislative arm of the African Union.