PAP elects first VP

Zvamaida Murwira in Midrand South Africa

Pan African Parliament President Chief Fortune Charumbira presided over the election of the continental legislative body’s First Vice President in a tension-filled electoral process that saw legislators haggling over procedural issues.

A legislator and former Minister, Dr Fatimetou Habib was elected on Tuesday evening after a day-long of debate and haggling on how to overcome procedural requirements such as lack of quorum, a development that saw the electoral process that started on Monday spilling too late on Tuesday.

Dr Habib, a medical doctor by profession, from Mauritania, replaced Professor Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf, who was appointed Cabinet Minister in her country.

At the commencement of elections on Monday, there was unanimity that North Africa should be allowed to fill the vacancy given that it belonged to that region.

Arguments ensued with sporadic flaring of emotions and tampers as legislators debated how to overcome a challenge of quorum that had risen.

Some argued that attainment of a quorum was a prerequisite while others felt that a consensus on a candidate was enough given that she was the sole candidate.

Chief Charumbira had to refer the question to the PAP Committee on Rules and Procedures to deliberate on it and make recommendations before the plenary on Tuesday.

The committee recommended the need for a quorum as a prerequisite, throwing the subject to further debate.

Chief Charumbira ultimately directed that there be a virtual process where those physically present will have to be joined with others on virtual platforms, a development that helped to address the challenge.

He said deferring the election to the next session in March was unfair to North Africa as it would go for a long time without representation.

In the end, the election was held using the hybrid format resulting in the election of Dr Habib who was the sole candidate.

She got 96 votes out of a possible 100. PAP presidency, known as Bureau is constituted by the President and four Vice Presidents that represent the five regions that up Africa.

The regions are Southern, Eastern, Western, Central and Nothern Africa.

Dr Habib presided over the sitting of today’s plenary in the absence of Chief Charumbira.