Kenya's veteran politico, Raila Odinga started on a good note in the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson vote on Saturday, February 15, but tumbled in the course of the ballot.

Raila's win would have crowned his months of shuttle lobbying of the leaders on the continent to support his bid.

He sought to succeed Moussa Faki, the fourth chairperson of the AUC.

As earlier hinted, the election to elect the fifth chairperson of the commission was held during the 38th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly on Saturday.

With 49 heads of state partaking in the vote, the winner needed two-thirds of the total votes, translating to 33.

In round one of the vote, Raila won with 20 votes, against Mahmoud's 18 votes, and Randiamandrato's 10.

Having not met the win threshold, the ballot proceeded to the second round, in which Raila garnered 22 votes, against Mahmoud's 19 and 7 for the Madagascar candidate; there was one abstention.

In the third round, the Djibouti candidate edged over Raila for the first time with 23 votes. Raila got 20 votes.

Madagascar's candidate got five votes and was eliminated at this stage; one abstention was reported in this round.

In round four, Mahmoud garnered 25 votes, against Raila's 21; one vote was reported as spoilt in this round and two abstentions.

The vote proceeded to the fifth round, where the Djibouti candidate was already gaining ground; he got 26 votes, against Raila's 21, with two abstentions.

In the sixth round, which had one abstention, Raila gained one vote to stand at 22 but was eliminated regardless, given that he did not secure the majority votes, hence leaving Mahmoud, who had 26 ballots, to proceed to the next round.

Mahmoud proceeded to the seventh round one-man and managed to court seven votes that propelled him to victory.

Meanwhile, the AU Assembly elected Ambassador Selma Haddadi from Algeria as the AUC deputy chairperson.

The Kenyan government stewarded Raila's campaign across the continent; a secretariat constituted of seasoned diplomats strategised for him and traversed the continent in selling his bid.

Raila often tagged along President William Ruto to high-level continental engagements on whose sidelines courted support for Raila.

This is the second AUC chairperson election Kenya has lost.

The country made a stab at the continental post for the first time in 2017 then under former president Uhuru Kenyatta.

At the time, then-Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed was contesting against Faki.

Just like this year's election, Faki went one-man to the seventh round in which he was declared the winner after garnering 38 votes.

Amina was eliminated in the sixth round in which he secured 25 votes.

Faki was re-elected in 2021 during the 34th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly which was held virtually due to COVID-19.

Source: TUKO.co.ke