The General Assembly today elected Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years; but after nine rounds of voting, the seat allocated to a member from the Eastern European States was not filled, with Azerbaijan and Slovenia trading the leading edge.
Those elected will fill seats to be vacated on 31 December by Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria. Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa will continue to serve as elected Council members during 2011, finishing the second year of their respective terms. All new Council members will take their seats on 1 January 2012.
The five non-permanent members were to be elected according to the following pattern: three from Africa and Asia-Pacific — with an understanding that two of those seats would go to African States — one from Eastern Europe, and one from Latin America and the Caribbean. The three new members from Guatemala, Morocco and Pakistan were elected in the first round of voting.
With one vacancy remaining among the African and Asia-Pacific States and with no clear majority among the Eastern European States at the end of the second round of voting, the Assembly moved into a third round, in which Togo was elected from the African and Asian-Pacific States. No Eastern European State during that round garnered sufficient votes.
In the six rounds that followed, Azerbaijan and Slovenia traded the lead in close votes. In the final vote — pushing the meeting an hour past the designated deadline — a total of 191 votes were cast, with 113 in favour of Azerbaijan and 77 for Slovenia, with one abstention, and 127 being the required two-thirds majority to be elected.
The General Assembly will next convene at 10 a.m. on Monday, 24 October, to elect 18 members of the Economic and Social Council and to continue with elections for members of the Security Council.
First Round Voting Results
African and Asian-Pacific States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 0 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 193 |
Required majority: | 129 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Morocco | 151 |
Pakistan | 129 |
Togo | 119 |
Mauritania | 98 |
Kyrgyzstan | 55 |
Fiji | 1 |
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 0 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 193 |
Required majority: | 129 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 74 |
Slovenia | 67 |
Hungary | 52 |
Latin American and Caribbean States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 2 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 191 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Guatemala | 191 |
Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, Guatemala, Morocco and Pakistan were elected to the Security Council for two-year terms, beginning on 1 January 2012. As one seat remained to be filled from among the African and Asian-Pacific States, and one seat from the Eastern European States, a second round of voting was required.
Second Round Voting (First Restricted)
African and Asian-Pacific States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 2 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 191 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Togo | 119 |
Mauritania | 72 |
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 5 |
Number of valid ballots: | 188 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 187 |
Required majority: | 125 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Slovenia | 97 |
Azerbaijan | 90 |
With no country from the African and Asian-Pacific or the Eastern European States having received the required majority, the Assembly held a third ballot.
Third Round Voting (Second Restricted)
African and Asian-Pacific States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 192 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Togo | 131 |
Mauritania | 61 |
Having obtained the required majority, Togo was elected to the Security Council for a term of two years to commence on 1 January 2012.
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 192 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Slovenia | 99 |
Azerbaijan | 93 |
With no country from the Eastern European States having received the required majority, the Assembly held a fourth ballot.
Fourth Round Voting (Third Restricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 192 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 192 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 191 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Slovenia | 98 |
Azerbaijan | 93 |
With no country from the Eastern European States having received the required majority, the Assembly held a fifth round of balloting, which would be open to any Member State from the Eastern European region except for the outgoing member of the Security Council, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Fifth Round Voting (First Unrestricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 192 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 98 |
Slovenia | 93 |
Hungary | 1 |
As the result of the balloting was inconclusive, one seat remained to be filled among the Eastern European States and a second round of unrestricted balloting took place.
Sixth Round Voting (Second Unrestricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 192 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 96 |
Slovenia | 95 |
Estonia | 1 |
As one seat remained to be filled among the Eastern European States following the sixth round of voting, the Assembly proceeded to a seventh round.
Seventh Round Voting (Third Unrestricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 193 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 193 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 192 |
Required majority: | 128 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 100 |
Slovenia | 91 |
Estonia | 1 |
Another inconclusive round of voting led to an eighth round of balloting, once again restricted to Azerbaijan and Slovenia.
Eighth Round Voting (Fourth Restricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 191 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 191 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 190 |
Required majority: | 127 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 110 |
Slovenia | 80 |
Since the result of the ballot was inconclusive, Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser said that, due to the late hour, the ninth round of voting would take place on Monday, 24 October, following election of members to the Economic and Social Council.
The representative of Azerbaijan took the floor to request that the meeting be extended by one hour to continue with balloting.
President Al-Nasser, noting that the meeting had already been adjourned, said that Slovenia had requested suspension of the voting, and, since interpretation services were no longer available, the meeting would resume on Monday morning.
Responding, Azerbaijan’s delegate said that he had made an earlier request to the Secretariat to extend the meeting.
The Assembly President replied that, given that the time allocated to the meeting had already run out, and that interpretation services were no longer available, he would leave it to Member States to decide whether to continue.
The delegate of France said that his delegation was unwilling to proceed without simultaneous interpretation.
The representative of the Russian Federation, noting that his delegation had not heard a proposal to proceed without simultaneous interpretation, requested that the President ask that the interpreters stay on.
The President agreed to extend the meeting for one more round of voting.
Ninth Round of Voting (Fifth Restricted)
Eastern European States | |
Number of ballot papers: | 191 |
Number of invalid ballots: | 0 |
Number of valid ballots: | 191 |
Abstentions: | 1 |
Number of Members present and voting: | 190 |
Required majority: | 127 |
Number of votes obtained by country: | |
Azerbaijan | 113 |
Slovenia | 77 |
