Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Wednesday, led a team of African Union (AU) Observers to tour polling centres in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
It is part of his mandate as Chair of the AU Observer Mission for that country’s National Parliamentary and Provincial elections.
The AU has deployed more than 50 observers for South Africa’s national parliamentary and provisional administration elections being contested for by nine presidential candidates including incumbent President Jacob Zumah and 29 political parties among which the African National Congress is dominant.
President Kufuor who called for a peaceful and transparent elections on arrival on Tuesday in Johannesburg, described voting as orderly and impressive, so far, adding that “as observers, we have come to observe and report back to our appointing authority and not to meddle in the politics here”.
About 20 million voters are expected for Wednesday’s elections, the fifth since the demise of apartheid and the return to democratic rule, 20 years ago. It is also the first since the death of South Africa’s first post-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, who died earlier this year.
Final result is expected in 72 hours. Also in South Africa is Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs who is leading the Commonwealth Observer Mission to the elections.
Former President Kufuor arrived in South Africa from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) where, in his capacity as Special Envoy of the United Nations on Climate Change, he participated in the an international summit on Climate Change.
Dubbed the ‘Abu Dhabi Ascent in support of Climate Summit 2014’ the meeting is seen as the last gathering of international partners before next September’s UN Summit on Climate Change, which is aimed at endorsing bold and ambitious commitments from governments on how to stem the rapid degradation of the environment.
The meeting dealt with topics on Agriculture, Transportation, Clean Energy, Forests, Adaptation, Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction, among others.
It was opened by Mr Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General and Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change of the UAE.
Other speakers Mr Al Gore, Former Vice-President of the United States, Mr Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, Former President of Mexico and Professor Jeffery Sachs, Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and Director of the Earth Institute.
Source: GNA
