Africa Has New Chess Leaders!

A few hours ago, African leaders/delegates casted their votes for three (3) aspirants to the throne of leadership of the Africa Chess Confederation.

Before the elections, many had tried to guess where the elections would swing, who was supporting who, and if “the Year of Women in Chess” would really have its way on the continent.

There were those who campaigned in the open, and those who campaigned in closed circuits. One thing is sure, when a people campaign in closed circuits, you may never know what is going on, however, faith is employed until the votes are cast and the results are seen.

This is the story of the tickets that tried to become the president of the continent, who also comes in with their team of office holders/workers.

After several weeks of campaigning, voting happened today, and the results show that our poll on “Who Should Lead Africa Chess” was valid and the results proved true. Although, the candidate who won the poll on our website did not contest for the position of ACC president, the person he supported eventually won the elections.

Results

After forty-seven (47) delegates casted their votes in the Africa Chess Confederation elections, the three (3) candidates for leadership had the following votes:

Tshepiso Lopang – 29 votes

Bernard Wanjala – 11 votes

Hesham El Gendy – 7 votes

With the above result (Biggest margin in an ACC election), there was no need for a recount, neither was there any need for doubts. African delegates have spoken, the continent has spoken, and the Year of Women in Chess has officially happened to Africa.

Ms. Tshepiso Lopang of Botswana has been elected to become the New Africa Chess Confederation President, and by extension, Omer Abdalla Omerdeab of Sudan becomes the Deputy President, Nadezhda Marochkina of Senegal becomes the first Vice President, Sidi Mohamed Tajedine of Mauritania becomes the second Vice President, Tito Martins from Angola becomes the Secretary General, and Wilfried Ntamatungiro from Burundi becomes the Treasurer.

This team will serve Africa for the next four (4) years and build the structures that will propagate the continent to the world in a better way, building on what is good from the outgoing team, and ensuring a change in what seemed bad.

After the continental leaders who were voted for, the five (5) zones (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5) also had their elections today. The winners of the zonal representatives are as follows:

1. Zone 4.1 – Marouane Tabti from Algeria
2. Zone 4.2 – Philip Elikem Ameku from Ghana
3. Zone 4.3 – Barthelemy Bongo from Gabon
4. Zone 4.4 – Yassin Souleyman from Djibouti
5. Zone 4.5 – Susan Namangale from Malawi

The delegates have spoken and Africa has listened. Now is the time for these leaders to get to work and deliver on the promise to take their respective zones to the next heights.

It is also hoped that the zones would be allowed to function independently of the ACC (while bringing regular reports to the leaders above), as well as build structures that will take the continent as a whole to the next level of chess evolution.

Africa Chess Media wishes to congratulate the winners from the elections, and urge them to aid the evolution of Africa as a whole.