/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

National Assembly Speaker Ms Thandi Modise extends her congratulations to Mr Duarte Pacheco on his election as President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – the world’s oldest and largest global parliamentary forum.

Mr Pacheco has been a member of the Parliament of Portugal since 1991 and has played an active role in the IPU for many years. He succeeds Ms Gabriela Cuevas Barron, a parliamentarian from Mexico, elected IPU President in October 2017 and whose term of office as IPU President has now ended.

Mr Pacheco’s election happened at a meeting of the IPU’s Governing Council, which Ms Modise is attending with a multiparty delegation of Members of Parliament (MPs). The members of Ms Modise’s delegation are Ms Shahidabibi Shaik (from the National Council of Provinces), Mr Thlologelo Malatji (African National Congress member of the National Assembly) and Mr Michael Waters (Democratic Alliance member of the National Assembly).

Parliamentarians from 140 IPU member Parliaments elected Mr Pacheco as the IPU’s 30th President – through an unprecedented virtual electronic secret ballot held across different time zones. About 40% of voting members were women MPs and 27% were younger than 45.

Previous IPU Presidents have gone on to win Nobel Peace Prizes, such as, IPU founders Frédéric Passy and William Randal Cremer. The IPU President, who must be an MP for the term in office, is the political head of the IPU, chairs its statutory meetings and represents it at global events.
 
The South African Parliament has been a member of the IPU since our democracy and hosted the 118th IPU Assembly and Related Meetings in Cape Town in April 2008. These biannual meetings currently bring together about 1 500 parliamentary delegates from 179 national Member Parliaments and 13 regional parliamentary bodies in a world assembly. The meetings add a parliamentary dimension to global governance, including work of the United Nations and implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The IPU, with its permanent observer status at the United Nations General Assembly, has broadened the role of parliaments in global affairs.
Parliaments represent the people and conduct their international work on behalf of the people.
 
The Governing Council, which ends its deliberations on 4 November, is the IPU’s main decision-making body.
 
On its agenda are the budget and programme of work for 2021 and decisions on several issues. These include alleged human rights violations against several parliamentarians, election of EXCO Members and consideration of a report on the outcome of the virtual segment of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and the 13th Summit of Women Speakers.
 
This is the first time the IPU General Council conducts its business and ballot on a virtual platform.

Issued by Parliament of South Africa