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2011 United Nations Security Council election

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The 2011 United Nations Security Council election was held on 21 and 24 October 2011[1] during the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The General Assembly elected Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, and Togo, as the five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2012. Azerbaijan was elected after 17 rounds on 24 October, while the other four new members were chosen on 21 October.[2]

2011 United Nations Security Council election
← 2010 21 and 24 October 2011 2012 →
5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council membership after the elections
  Permanent members
  Non-permanent members
Members before election

 Gabon (Africa)
 Nigeria (Africa)
 Brazil (LatAm&Car)
 Lebanon (Asia, Arab)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina (E. Europe)

 New Members





Unsuccessful candidates
 Fiji (Asian Group)
 Hungary (Eastern European Group)
 Kyrgyzstan (Asian Group)
 Mauritania (African Group)
 Slovenia (Eastern European Group)

Notably, Azerbaijan and Guatemala were elected to the Council for the first time.

Rules edit

The Security Council has 15 seats, filled by five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Each year, half of the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms.[3][4] A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.[5]

In accordance with the rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes,[6] the five available seats are allocated as follows:[7]

To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.[9]

Candidates edit

Guatemala[10] indicated it would run for the 2012–2013 term, for the seat currently occupied by Brazil. At that time, Guatemala was one of only six original UN Members to have never held a seat on the Security Council.[citation needed]

Azerbaijan,[11] Hungary,[12][13] and Slovenia[14][15] all announced their intention to run for the single Eastern European seat. Though Armenia did not run for the seat, the Azerbaijani Trend news agency had previously reported about an Armenian withdrawal of its bid, while reading the alleged candidature as "certainly viewed as Armenia's defeat".[16] The Arab League indicated it would support Azerbaijan's candidature.[17]

Mauritania, Morocco and Togo sought to be elected to the two African seats.[18]

Pakistan had announced its intention to run for the single Asian seat in October 2010. A Pakistani diplomat noted that Pakistan had supported India's candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the 2010 election, and hoped that India would support Pakistan's candidacy in 2011.[19] Fiji had originally sought to run for the seat, but deferred in Pakistan's favour.[20] Kyrgyzstan has also made known its candidacy on 22 September 2011.[21][22]

Result edit

African Group edit

African Group election results
Member Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
  Morocco 151 — —
  Togo 119 119 131
  Mauritania 98 72 61
abstentions 0 2 1
required majority 129 128 128

Asia-Pacific Group edit

Asia-Pacific Group election results
Member Round 1
  Pakistan 129
  Kyrgyzstan 55
  Fiji 1

Fiji had already withdrawn its campaign in favour of Pakistan before the election.[23]

Latin American and Caribbean Group edit

Guatemala ran unopposed for the GRULAC seat, and was elected with 191 votes in the first round of voting, with two abstentions.[9]

Eastern European Group edit

Day 1 edit

Eastern European Group election results – day one
Member Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9[2]
  Azerbaijan 74 90 93 93 98 96 100 110 113
  Slovenia 67 97 99 98 93 95 91 80 77
  Hungary 52 — — — 1 — — — —
  Estonia — — — — — 1 1 — —
ballot papers 193 193 193 192 193 193 193 191 191
abstentions — 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
invalid votes — 5 — — — — — — —
required majority 129 125 128 128 128 128 128 127 127

After eight rounds of inconclusive voting, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser initially decided to reschedule the next round of voting for 24 October following the election of members to the Economic and Social Council. However, Azerbaijan requested the ballot be continued for one more hour; the request was agreed to after Russian support despite opposition from France on the basis of a lack of translation services.[9]

Though Estonia had not applied as a candidate, the 6th round, which was unrestricted, featured one vote for them.[24]

Day 2 edit

Eastern European Group election results – day two
Member Round 10 Round 11 Round 12 Round 13 Round 14 Round 15 Round 16 Round 17
  Azerbaijan 110 110 111 111 110 117 116 155
  Slovenia 83 82 81 80 81 76 77 13
  Hungary — — — — — — — 1
ballot papers 193 193 193 192 192 193 193 193
abstentions — 1 1 1 1 — — 24
required majority 129 128 128 128 128 129 129 113

After 7 additional inconclusive rounds of voting on 24 October, Slovenia's delegation told the General Assembly that while it believed Slovenia would be a good addition for the Security Council, it did not approve of the way in which the election was being held and was withdrawing its candidacy as the "will of the Assembly was clear".[25][26] In the 17th round that followed, Azerbaijan achieved the necessary 2/3 majority and won the Eastern European seat.[27]

Ramifications edit

With the election of Pakistan to the Security Council, seven of the nine countries known to have nuclear weapons are members of the Council in 2012: China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom (the two nuclear powers not on the Council in 2012 are Israel and North Korea).[28]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Krause-Jackson, Flavia; Varner, Bill (13 October 2011). "Kyrgyzstan Bets on Air Base, Woman Reformer in UN Election". Businessweek. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  2. ^ a b Snow, Anita (22 October 2011). "UN council elections head into extra rounds". Associated Press. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  3. ^ United Nations. Department of Political Affairs (2008). Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council: Supplement 1989–1992. United Nations Publications. p. 178. ISBN 978-92-1-137030-0.
  4. ^ Benedetto Conforti (2005). The Law And Practice Of The United Nations. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 61. ISBN 90-04-14309-2.
  5. ^ Charter of the United Nations, Article 23
  6. ^ Resolution 1991 A (XVIII), dated 1963-12-17, in force 31 August 1965. See also the notes accompanying Rules 142 to 144 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly and Item 114(a) (page 175) of UN Document A/66/100, Annotated preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda of the sixty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly.
  7. ^ "Security Council Elections 2011" (PDF). Security Council Report: Special Research Report. 21 September 2011.
  8. ^ "Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group", Radio New Zealand International, 31 August 2011.
  9. ^ a b c "General Assembly Elects Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, Togo as Non-Permanent Members of Security Council". United Nations. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Candidatura al Consejo de Seguridad – Misión Permanente de Guatemala ante las Naciones Unidas". Guatemalaun.org. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov at an Annual Coordination Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of the Islamic conference. September 24, 2010, New-York". Mfa.gov.az. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Hungary's candidacy for a Non-Permanent seat on the UN Security Council". Mfa.gov.hu. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  13. ^ Hungary Candidate to the United Nations Security Council 2012–2013
  14. ^ "Permanent representation of the RS to the UN". Newyork.predstavnistvo.si. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Slovenia for the UN Security Council 2012–2013". Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  16. ^ "Armenia never planned to become UN Security Council non-permanent member". PanARMENIAN.Net. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  17. ^ "League of Arab States will support Azerbaijan's UNSC bid". Azerbaijan-unsc.com. 24 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  18. ^ "October 2011: Security Council Elections 2011". Security Council Report. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  19. ^ "Pak to bid for non-permanent UNSC seat next year". Hindustan Times. Press Trust of India. 16 October 2010. Archived from the original on 19 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  20. ^ Akram, Munir (9 October 2011). "Bid for UNSC seat". Dawn. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Permanent Mission of Kyrgyzstan at the United Nations – Statements & Documents". Un.int. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  22. ^ "Press Conference on Upcoming Elections in General Assembly". United Nations. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  23. ^ Bagchi, Indrani (11 October 2011). "Pakistan tries for UN Security Council, faces unexpected block, but not from India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  24. ^ "Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo elected to Security Council". United Nations. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  25. ^ "General Assembly Elects 18 Members to Economic and Social Council". www.un.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011.
  26. ^ "Azerbaijan wins final vacancy on Security Council". 24 October 2011.
  27. ^ Agayeva, S. (25 October 2011). "Azerbaijan becomes non-permanent UNSC member for 2012–2013". En.trend.az. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  28. ^ "Azerbaijan gets UN Security Council seat". CNN.com. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.

External links edit

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