Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - African leaders agreed on Monday to renew the term of office of the entire African Union Commission (AUC) after its leader, Jean Ping, failed to win outright, PANA reported, quoting diplomats at the 18th summit of the African Union here.

The development allows Ping to present his candidature for voting during the next Summit in Malawi, the diplomats said.

African leaders suspended the elections of the entire Commission after Ping failed to garner outright majority for a second-term bid.

There were indications that the leaders were also likely to agree to a change of the rules barring the candidates from contesting the next elections in June.

“The Assembly is the legislative organ, it can change rules and it has changed those rules allowing Ping to continue for another six months together with the full Commission,” a diplomatic source told PANA.

The source added the Ping's South African challenger, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who dropped out of the race, will also be allowed to reapply for the position.

The rules require the five regions of Africa to each nominate one man and one woman for each of the positions available at the 10-member Commission, with the seats distributed on a 50-50 gender basis.

A tightly-contested election saw Ping lose the vote even while running alone. He failed short of the clear majority to retain the seat outright.

“It would be impossible for a candidate who contested as a single candidate and failed to win to contest successfully in the next round. The region would have to think twice before re-submitting the candidature,” a Ugandan diplomat told PANA, saying the issue of changing the rules was debated at the AU Assembly, but was not agreed upon immediately.

The election rules initially provided that in case of a slim majority after the third round, the losing candidate had to drop out of the race to allow the winning candidate a chance to garner majority.

But in case that did not go through, the next senior official in the Commission, the Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, was to be appointed the interim official to head the organ.

Sources said a decision on whether the Deputy Chair should assume the interim was not agreed upon after the Southern Africa region insisted a decision had to be reached that does not allow an interim officer.

A compromise was later struck -- to extend the tenure of the entire commission.

Ping’s term is expected to end in April, but this was extended to June during the next Summit.

Pana 30/01/2012