Five new rotating members elected to UN Security Council
Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa were elected on Tuesday to the UN Security Council as the non-permanent members of the most powerful UN body.
The 192-member UN General Assembly elected the five countries to serve two-year terms starting Jan. 1.
Like the most previous Security Council elections, Canada, Germany and Portugal were in a heated race for two seats on the 15- nation Security Council even hours before the beginning of the UN members cast their secret ballots.
Colombia, India, Germany and South Africa gained the uncontested seats as they have no opposition and won easily on the first ballot.
Colombia received 186 votes, India won 187 votes, South Africa got 182 votes and Germany won 128 votes in the first round of ballots.
Portugal won 150 votes in the third round of ballots to emerge as the winner for the non-permanent seat on the 15-nation Security Council as Canada withdrew its candidacy for the slot.
Even after the Canadian withdrawal, “Portugal still has to be elected by the two-third votes,” said Joseph Deiss, the president of the 65th General Assembly session who chaired the elections.
This is the first time for Canada to fail in winning the Council seat as the North American country lost support from African and Arab countries for its strong pro-Israeli policies, observers here said.
Canada was successful in obtaining the Council seat once in a decade over the past years. The country has served recently from 1999 to 2000 and having fulfilled six terms yet, roughly one each decade since 1947.
The five new seat holders will replace outgoing Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda, whose terms on the Council end on Dec. 31, 2010.
Under the UN Charter, the 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly.
Ten of the Security Council’s 15 seats are filled by the regional groups for two-year stretches, with five elected in October each year.
Indian UN Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters here that the elections victory will strengthen his country’s commitment to the 192-member world body.
“We were an endorsed candidate, but there was a contest, so the endorsement came after a long campaign,” the Indian ambassador said.” “This reinforces our commitment to work in the council along with others on issues to which we have always given priority ”
Meanwhile, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, the South African minister for international relations and cooperation, told reporters here spoke of “South Africa’s determination to work with member states inside and outside the Council to keep Africa as a zone of peace, security, and development.”
“We will not work in an isolationist fashion. We will work the way South Africa works, through collective leadership and consensus building,” she added.
For his part, “we are looking forward to our work in the Security Council,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said. “We appreciate this opportunity to further engage for peace and security, for development and climate protection, for disarmament and non-proliferation.”
To be elected a seat in the 15-nation body, a country needs to secure the support of two-thirds of the members which are present and voting, with a minimum of 128 votes if all 192 member states participate. Formal balloting is required for the Council elections, even if candidates have been endorsed by their regional troop and are running on a clean slate.
Other five non-permanent Council members of the Security Council are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria, which began their two-year terms on Jan. 1.
The Council has 15 members: five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States — and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.
Each Security Council member has one vote. Decisions on procedural matters are made by an affirmative vote of at least nine of the 15 members. Decisions on substantial matters require nine vote and the absence of a negative vote by any of the five permanent members.
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