Ethiopia's Tedros elected first African Director-General of WHO

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus elected new DG of WHO

Ethiopia’s candidate for the WHO top job has finally been elected to replace outgoing Margaret Chan as Director-General of the United Nations health outfit after three rounds of voting. A former health minister at the voting ground has tweeted that Tedros got votes that passed the over 66% required to be declared the winner.

He becomes the first African to ascend to the post in the nearly 70-years existence of the WHO. He is also the first non-physician to be elected to the post. He previously served as health and foreign affairs minister of Ethiopia and till date was a special advisor to Prime Minsiter Hailemariam Desalegn. He beat two other competitors to emerge winner.

Almost done, 128 votes so far and still counting. Congratulations to all Ethiopians &Africans. History is made. Viva DrTedros ViVa Ethiopia

— Kesete Admasu (KeseteA) May 23, 2017

Update after round two of votes

Dr. Tedros wins the second round of voting but is just one vote shy of the 66% required. He polled 121 votes against David Nabarro’s 62 votes. Voting enters a final round. As things stand now, he needs only one vote more to emerge Africa’s first WHO chief. > #WHODG 2nd round Tedros 121 Navarro 62…122 needed…3rd round…

— Mathias Bonk (@MathiasBonk) May 23, 2017

Tedros leads WHO DG vote after round one, vote enters second round

Ethiopia’s former health and foreign minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has won the first round of vote in the race to elect the next Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The vote is currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, where the World Health Assembly is meeting. He polled 95 votes as against 52 by his closest challenger, the UK’s David Nabarro. The third contestant Pakistani physician, Sania Nishtar got 38 votes.

The vote however enters a final round between Dr. Tedros and Dr. Nabarro because none of them secures 66% of the votes for an outright win.

The #WHA70 will do 2nd vote now. 1st round :
Tedros 95 votes
Nabarro 52
Nishtar 38
No 66%, so on to round two. Under rules SaniaNishtar out

— Laurie Garrett (Laurie_Garrett) May 23, 2017

All three candidates had addressed the Assembly before members went into voting session to elect the successor to Dr. Magaret Chan whose two terms ends in July this year.

#WHA70 #WHODG DrTedros "All roads should lead to Universal Health Coverage" #UHC "a matter of political commitment"

— Mathias Bonk (MathiasBonk) May 23, 2017

#WHODG candidate DrTedros "No one should elect me, because I am from Africa!" "I will listen to you" "I am ready to serve" #WHA70

— Mathias Bonk (MathiasBonk) May 23, 2017

#WHA70 #WHODG election about to begin. DrTedros 1st candidate presenting his vision for WHO “I have dedicated my life to improving health”

— Mathias Bonk (@MathiasBonk) May 23, 2017