August 26, 2021 Election Result of Director General of the International Bureau of the UPU

During the 27th Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, from August 9 through 27, 2021, the election for the next Director General of the International Bureau of the UPU was held on the morning of August 25 (local time). Mr. METOKI Masahiko, a Japanese candidate, currently serving as Senior Vice President of Japan Post Co., Ltd. (current Chairperson of the Postal Operations Council), was elected as the next Director General with a majority of votes cast.
Mr. METOKI Masahiko will take up his position as the next Director General in January next year (a four-year term and can be extended up to a maximum of two terms) and is expected to lead various UPU initiatives and reforms.

1. Overview

After nearly three years of campaigning since the announcement of his candidacy in October 2018, Mr. METOKI Masahiko, Senior Vice President of Japan Post Co., Ltd. (current Chairperson of the Postal Operations Council), was elected as the next Director General.
Including Mr. METOKI, three candidates ran for this election‘. The other two were Mr. Pascal Clivaz (from Switzerland), currently serving as Deputy Director General of the UPU, and Mr. Jack Hamande (from Belgium), currently serving as Co-Chairperson of the UPU Council of Administration (CA) Committee 2. In the end, Mr. METOKI won the election with a majority of votes cast.

2. Election of Deputy Director General

In addition to the election of the next Director General, the election of the next Deputy Director General^* was held at the Congress. As a result, Mr. Marjan Osvald, currently serving as Senior Adviser to the Executive Management of the Post of Slovenia (from Slovenia), was elected to the Deputy Director General of the UPU’s International Bureau. Close collaboration between Mr. METOKI, the next Director General, and Mr. Marjan Osvald, the next Deputy Director General, is expected.

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  Four candidates ran for the election: Mr. Younous Djibrine, Secretary General of the Pan African Postal Union (from Cameroon), Mr. Marjan Osvald, Senior Adviser to the Executive Management of the Post of Slovenia (from Slovenia), Ms. Marcela Marron, Director of Value Added Services, Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies, Office of the President of Argentina (from Argentina), and Mr. Vladyslav Dubenko, Financial Director of the UPU International Bureau (from Ukraine).