Staff Reporter :
Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly of Cameroon, has been elected Chairperson of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) for three years.
CPA Secretary General Akbar Khan announced the results of the vote on Tuesday.
The CPA member countries cast their votes in the General Assembly of the 63rd CPC at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. Lifaka got 107 votes out of 192 votes, while her nearest candidate Niki Rattle, Speaker of Cook Islands Pacific, bagged 70 votes. Shirly M Osborne, MLA of Monserrat got 15 votes.
Interestingly, there was no male candidate in the election.
Supporters of newly elected CPA Chairperson, Lifaka burst into joy after announcement of the election result by dancing and singing in their country languages.
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of Jatiya Sangsad, was the first Bangladeshi elected CPA Chairperson in 2014.
The eight-day annual conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) began on November 1 with more than 550 delegates from 144 national and provincial parliaments from 44 countries. The conference ends tomorrow.
