(ATR) Mustapha Berraf is elected President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, ending one year of leadership limbo for the organization.
Berraf, President of the Algerian NOC and ANOCA Vice President, won in the second round of voting at the ANOCA Extraordinary Assembly in Tokyo.
Four candidates had sought the position of ANOCA President after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the 2017 election in Djibouti invalid. Berraf was challenged by Lydia Nsekera of Burundi, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum of Cameroon, and Negroes Kgosietsile of Botswana.
Before the voting began, Kgosietsile withdrew consideration from the election leaving only three candidates.
In the first round Berraf fell one vote shy of winning the Presidency, securing 27 votes, while Nsekera received 16, and Malboum just 11. To win any candidate needed 50 percent plus one vote of the 54 African NOCs in attendance.
A second round of voting quickly commenced with Berraf winning 34 votes to Nsekera’s 20. Applause broke out among the delegates once Berraf surpassed the 28 vote threshold needed for his election.
A three person election commission was convened by the ANOCA General Assembly to run the election process in a fair and impartial way. The commission consisted of Honorary IOC member from Zambia Patrick Chamunda, IOC member from South Africa Anant Singh, and sport consultant from Senegal Diamil Faye.
The commission went to great lengths to ensure the transparency of the election, including showing that there were no ballots in the ballot box before voting began. A minor debate ensued about how voters should mark their vote on the ballot, with a "tick" mark the choice over a "cross".
Each candidate was allowed to appoint an observer to oversee the counting of the votes, which was done out loud in the presence of the General Assembly.
After his election Berraf told reporters that the priority following the election is "to make sure everyone comes back together working around the values and taking ANOCA to the next level".
A priority for the organization will be to stage the African Games in 2019 in Morocco. Rabat and Casablanca will host the event, which will feature more than 20 sports. Berraf said that ANOCA must work hard to make it "an international event" that is up to the standard of other continental multi-sport events.
The African Games will go to Ghana in 2023, though ANOCA will also be focusing on the 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
"There will be a strategic plan put together in line with Agenda 2020 of the IOC," Berraf said. "We must bring everyone together for a better future for our organization. It will be a new way of working that will be inclusive; I want everyone’s brain to be picked and contribute to the work of ANOCA.
"The functioning of ANOCA must be remodeled and changed to make sure that it is becoming more efficient. It will be a new start for ANOCA and we must be modernized from now on building through good governance, using transparency. We will make sure any problem is resolved with the contribution of everyone."
Written by Aaron Bauer in Tokyo
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