United Nations Security Council election, 2013

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United Nations Security Council election, 2013

← 2012 17 October and 6 December 2013 2014 →

5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council

UNSC 2014.svg
United Nations Security Council membership after the elections

Elected Members before election

 Morocco (Africa, Arab)
 Togo (Africa)
 Guatemala (LatAm&Car)
 Pakistan (Asia)
 Azerbaijan (E. Europe)

New Elected Members





The 2013 United Nations Security Council election was held on 17 October 2013[1] during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The Assembly elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia for five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2014.[2] The following day, Saudi Arabia announced that it was declining the seat, accusing UNSC of using "double standards" and being unable to resolve important issues in the Middle East.[3] A second round of voting took place on 6 December,[4] in which Jordan was elected to the Council.

Rules

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.[5][6] A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.[7]

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,[8] the five available seats are allocated as follows:

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.

The five members are expected to serve on the Security Council for the 2014–15 period.

Candidates

African Group

 Chad[11][12]
 Nigeria[11][12]
 Gambia[12] — Withdrew[13]

Latin American and Caribbean Group

 Chile[11][12][14]

Asia-Pacific group

An Arab state is due to take a seat on account of the custom of rotation of the unofficial "Arab seat" between the Arab states belonging to the African and Asian groups and the expiry of the term of the previous Arab member, Morocco, whose term expires in 2013.

 Saudi Arabia[11][12][15]
 Jordan — Declared candidacy after Saudi Arabia declined its election to the Council[4]

Eastern European group

 Georgia[11] — Withdrew on 30 April 2013 for diplomatic and financial reasons[16]
 Lithuania[11][12][17]

Results

There were 191 secret ballots cast in each segment of the vote.[18]

African and Asia-Pacific Groups

Day 1

African and Asia-Pacific Groups election results[18]
Member Round 1
 Nigeria 186
 Chad 184
 Saudi Arabia 176
 Gambia 2
 Senegal 2
 Lebanon 1
abstentions 0
required majority 128

Rejection

Following the vote, Saudi Arabia, despite winning, declined to take the seat citing the UNSC's "double standards" in being allegedly ineffective in regards to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, nuclear disarmament in the Middle East and putting an end to the Syrian civil war.[3][19] This was the first time a state had rejected a Security Council seat.[20] Saudi Arabia's refusal of the seat surprised both United Nations diplomats and some observers inside the country, where the announcement of the election had been received favorably.[20] The Gulf Cooperation Council supported Saudi Arabia's bid.[21] In addition, Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan suggested a distancing of Saudi Arabia–United States relations as a result of the same issue over the Syrian civil war, amongst other reasons.[22] On 12 November, Saudi Arabia formally declined the seat, advising the Secretary-General that it "would not be in a position to take the seat on the Security Council to which it was elected."[23]

Day 2

A second vote was held on 6 December to fill the vacancy created by the rejection of Saudi Arabia to take the seat it was elected to. Prior to the vote, the General Assembly honoured Nelson Mandela, who had died the previous day. There were 185 ballot papers.[24]

African and Asia-Pacific Groups election results[24]
Member Round 1
 Jordan 178
 Saudi Arabia 1
invalid ballots 2
abstentions 4
required majority 120

Latin American and Caribbean Group

Latin American and Caribbean Group election results[18]
Member Round 1
 Chile 186
abstentions 5
required majority 124

Eastern European Group

Eastern European Group election results[18]
Member Round 1
 Lithuania 187
 Croatia 1
abstentions 2
invalid votes 1
required majority 126

See also

Notes

  1. The Arab swing seat alternates every two years between the Asian and the African groups.[10]

References

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  8. 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.
  9. "Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group", Radio New Zealand International, 31 August 2011.
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  23. United Nations, General Assembly, Letter dated 12 November 2013 from the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, A/68/599 (14 November 2013), available from undocs.org/A/68/599
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