Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Panel set up to work out procedure for AU Commission top post's election - The 18th African Union (AU) Summit has resolved to appoint an eight-member panel of heads of state to work out a compromise procedure for electing the next head of the AU Commission, after Monday's stalemated poll.

“We concluded an eight-member committee of heads of State, each from the five regions, (as well as from) South Africa, Gabon and Benin as the AU Chair, to meet in March to determine the modalities of the renewal of terms for Commissioners,” said AU Chairman, President Yayi Boni of Benin, said.

Monday's election between incumbent Jean Ping and challenger Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the South African Interior Minister, failed to produce a winner, forcing African leaders to postpone the election till June and extend the tenure of the commission by six months.

“We were not able after three rounds of voting to decide. We had a good election process…he (Ping) needed 36 voices in his favour, he fell short by the 21 votes. We had to suspend the elections,” President Boni told journalists at a late night briefing.

Ping, who attended the briefing, but was obviously exhausted at the end of a long-day which would have seen him permanently ousted from the commission, said he would await the decision of the committee of heads of state before deciding his next step.

“I did not participate in this process. I was not inside the voting hall, that is the test. The committee would look at the issue, we should wait for their statement,” he said.

At issue is whether Ping and his challenger are still eligible to participate in the next election.

On Tuesday, South Africa’s International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said her country would again field the same candidate, Dlamini-Zuma, for the election, while expressing concern that Ping would remain in office till the next poll.

'The message that is very clear, if you check the rule book, is that the incumbent shall vacate and the deputy chair will act until the next election. So nothing stops us from fielding the same candidate because she has shown or proven to be a formidable candidate that the incumbent could not defeat,' Nkoana-Mashabane said in a statement.

Pana 31/01/2012