UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has discussed options, including online voting, to conduct elections for five non-permanent members of the Security Council in June, as large in-person meetings at the world body stand postponed till at least end of June due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The 193-member General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections in June for five non-permanent members of the Security Council, members of the Economic and Social Council, the president of the 75th session of the General Assembly and the vice presidents of the 75th session.
India is a candidate for a non-permanent seat in the UNSC elections this year and its victory is almost certain following the unanimous endorsement of its candidature by the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping, including China and Pakistan.
Muhammad-Bande on Thursday hosted a virtual meeting of the Chairs of the Regional Groups that featured a presentation by Under Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM) Movses Abelian on the options for elections by the General Assembly in the coming weeks without plenary meetings.
The options prepared by the DGACM include elections requiring secret ballots where member states can cast their votes at a specific venue, taking into account requirements of social distancing or by electronic means, Muhammad-Bande spokesperson Reem Abaza told a virtual press briefing on Friday.
Elections for the five non-permanent members of the 15-nation Council for the 2021-22 term were scheduled for June 17.
Canada, Ireland and Norway are vying for two seats in the Western Europe and Other countries category, Mexico is the only candidate for the one Latin America and Caribbean seat and Kenya and Djibouti will contest the seat available for the African group.
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Each year the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of 10 in total) for a two-year term.
The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis - five for African and Asian States; one for Eastern European States; two for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and two for Western European and other States.
The election is held by secret ballot.
The General Assembly is not holding meetings in person as UN staff and diplomats telecommute due to the pandemic.
Resolutions are being adopted by the UN body through a silence procedure, under which if no member state raises any objections to the draft within a specified time period, the President of the General Assembly will circulate a letter confirming adoption of the text.
Abaza said Muhammad-Bande is consulting with member states on the possible mechanisms to hold elections and decisions on meetings to be held in June in the world body will be announced very soon.
On whether the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, which takes places annually in September, will proceed, Abaza said discussions are underway with the UN medical director and local authorities in this regard.
"But having these meetings depends on many elements. Some of them will be the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. And the other thing is the ability of the local authorities to receive all the high level delegations. So the discussions are ongoing," she said.
A note prepared by the UN Secretariat has provided possible options in which elections by the General Assembly could be held without plenary meetings.
It said that if the number of candidates is equal to or does not exceed the number of vacant seats, there would usually be no need to hold a secret ballot.
"In these instances, the General Assembly could elect the candidates without a secret ballot, namely through the silence procedure," the note said.
Under this procedure, the President of the General Assembly could circulate a letter to all member states and indicate the specific election and the names of candidates; propose that a secret ballot be dispensed with as the number of candidates is equal to or does not exceed the number of vacant seats; indicate that, if there is no objection until a specific date and time, those candidates would be considered elected; and indicate their terms of office and the date on which those terms begin in the event that they are elected.