The Ethiopian parliament on Thursday unanimously elected Zodi Zubi to head the country, becoming the first woman to hold the post of honorary president following the resignation of President Malato Chome.
Sahli Ward is the country's fourth president since the adoption of the 1995 constitution, which provides for the president to be elected for a maximum of two terms of six years each.
The Ethiopian news agency said that the paper got "487 votes of the 487 attendees out of 546, and thus be the first woman to assume the presidency of the Republic in the country."
"I served in many diplomatic circles and was a special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to the African Union and head of the United Nations Office at the African Union, at the level of the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations."
She served as Ambassador to Senegal, with Mali, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, the Gambia and Guinea from 1989 to 1993.
From 1993 to 2002, she was Ambassador to Djibouti and Permanent Representative to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
She later served as Ambassador to France, Permanent Representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and accredited in Tunisia and Morocco from 2002 to 2006.
She also served as Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office for Peace-building in the Central African Republic (BINUCA).
Prior to that, she also held a number of other senior posts, including the Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Director-General for African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.
In 2011, Ambassador Ward Zoudi was appointed Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
According to the Ethiopian constitution, the post of head of state symbolizes the unity of the state and its sovereignty and does not enjoy any executive powers, as confirmed by the agency of the Ethiopian vessel.
