THE southern African regional Pan African Parliament (PAP) caucus has unanimously endorsed president of the Chiefs Council Senator Fortune Charumbira as the sole candidate for the PAP presidency, paving way for today’s election to be held in Midrand, South Africa.

PAP officially opened yesterday with legislators from different countries being sworn in.

The main agenda for this session will be the election of a new bureau of the PAP today, including election of the PAP president.

Charumbira was nominated by the PAP southern African caucus candidate, but the elections were aborted last year in May over disagreements on whether candidates from the Northern and Western African countries were eligible for nomination.

PAP is headed by a bureau consisting of a president and four vice-presidents. Members of the bureau represent the five regions of the continent.

Last year, parliamentarians caused havoc during a dispute over the election of a new PAP president leading to the plenary session being indefinitely suspended.

Initially, PAP sat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before it was moved to Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.