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Dakar, Senegal — Former governor general Michaëlle Jean has become the first woman leader of la Francophonie and will oversee the organization of 57 member states for the next four years.
Jean, who was named by consensus on Sunday, was up against four other candidates at the summit of la Francophonie, whose members include Canada, Quebec and New Brunswick.
She will replace Abdou Diouf, who stepped down after more than 10 years in the position.
Jean, 57, is expected to hold a news conference later on Sunday in Dakar, Senegal, where the organization was to end its two-day summit.
“Ms. Jean is the ideal person to promote French and the values of the Organisation,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement Sunday. “She will embody the renewal and modernity that La Francophonie of the 21st century needs.”
The French-language grouping has four more members than its English counterpart, the Commonwealth. Canada (which belongs to both) is its second-largest donor, and the federal government, Quebec and New Brunswick have all endorsed Ms. Jean’s candidacy.
Like the Commonwealth, la Francophonie has raised concerns in recent years that some members are not living up to the organization’s stated aim of promoting democracy and human rights. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for example, was critical of the decision to hold its last summit, in 2012, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rights abuses abound. The majority of la Francophonie’s members are African states.
