Editor's Review

The elections could even be suspended should the leading candidate fail to meet the two-thirds majority rule.

The African Union has announced that the election of the next chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) will be conducted between February 15 and 16.

As detailed in an explainer published on Monday, January 27, the next AUC chairperson will be elected by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. The seat is being contested by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The heads of state will also be voting for the deputy chairperson of AUC during the session.

Rules of the elections

For Raila or any of the two candidates to become the next AUC chairperson, they have to garner two-thirds of the votes.

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Official data by AU indicates that there are 55 member states, therefore, two-thirds translate to 37.

"The voting process begins with all the candidates on the ballot. Voting is conducted three times and if the third ballot remains inconclusive without any candidate garnering the two-thirds majority, the next ballot shall be restricted to the two (2) candidates who obtained the highest number of votes and the candidate with fewer votes is withdrawn.

"Where there are only two (2) candidates initially and neither candidate obtains the majority required after the third ballot, the candidate with the fewer votes is withdrawn and the remaining candidate proceeds to the next round," read the explainer in part.

Notably, if the remaining candidate fails to obtain a two-thirds majority in the last round, the chairperson of the assembly will suspend the elections.

Raila is facing off with Richard Randriamandrato of Madagascar and Mahmoud Ali of Djibouti.

Mahmoud is seen as a close challenger of Raila in the elections.

Meanwhile, as the continent prepares for the elections, Kenya already unveiled Raila's chief agent- a duty that will be undertaken by Kukuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wah.