Michaëlle Jean elected Secretary General of la Francophonie

The former Governor General of Canada replaces Abdul Diouf who has just concluded his 12-year term at the secretariat of the international organization of la Francophonie (OIF).

Michaëlle Jean, 57 years old, was elected Sunday, November 30, 2014 at the end of a closed meeting which was held in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. The new Secretary General defeated Jean Claude, former Foreign Minister of Mauritius, who had stood as the candidate of Africa.

She becomes the first woman and the first non-African person to be appointed to the post of Secretary-General of the OIF. The position, created in 1997, has been held by Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Abdou Diouf.

Michaëlle Jean (née Marie Michaëlle Eden Jean September 6, 1957, in Port - au Prince, Haiti) is a television host and Canadian journalist who served as Governor General of Canada from September 2005 to September 2010.

She is the third woman to hold this position after Jeanne Sauvé and Adrienne Clarkson. A polyglot, she speaks five languages (french, English, Spanish, Italian, and creole Haitian).