AU Observer Mission Head Mr Kufuor Describes South Africa Voting as Orderly & Impressive

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor led a team of African Union (AU) observers to tour polling centres in Pretoria and Johannesburg as South Africa held its presidential, national parliamentary and provincial elections. The AU deployed more than 50 personalities to observe the elections that had nine presidential candidates including incumbent President Jacob Zumah and 29 political parties taking part. A statement signed by his Spokesperson, Mr Frank Agyekum, said President Kufuor, Chairman of the AU Observer Mission, described voting as orderly and impressive. The election was 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, President Nelson Mandela. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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 apart from President Kufuor, included, Mr. Al Gore, Former Vice-President of the United States, Mr. Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister of the Britain, Mr. Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, Former President of Mexico