African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, was on Saturday overwhelmingly voted back to office for another term of four years.

The African Union Heads of State and Government Assembly voted 51 out of 55 to re-elect the incumbent Chairperson.

“I am deeply humbled by the overwhelming and historic vote of confidence by AU Member States by voting 51 out 55 to extend my mandate at the helm of the AUC Commission for another four years,” Mahamat said upon his re-election.

The Summit also elected Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the new Deputy Chairperson. Dr Nsanzabaganwa is a Rwandan economist and former deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda and Minister of State for economic planning.

Mahamat, whose main thrust is the silencing of the guns in Africa to create an environment favourable for economic transformation, termed the support from the African countries a “historic” feat.

The elections are the first to be held under a new system initiated by the Commission as part of a package of reforms where the most qualified candidates stand elected automatically.

The Heads of State and Government Assembly and its other organs, the Executive Council, which comprises the foreign ministers and ministers under whose docket the subject matter before the Summit falls are merely expected to approve the results of a competitive election process. (PANA/NAN)