The UN General Assembly today elected Ethiopia, Bolivia and Sweden as non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year period beginning in January, 2017.
The 193-member UN body conducted the elections for five non-permanent seats, which included one seat for the African Group, one seat for the Group of Asia and the Pacific small island developing states, one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and two seats for the Western European and Others Group.
The two-year terms of the new members will begin January 1 next year and run through December 31, 2018. Ethiopia got 185 votes, while Bolivia got 183 and Sweden garnered 134 votes.
A second round of voting is underway to elect a member between Kazakhstan and Thailand in the Asia Pacific group and Italy and the Netherlands in the Western European group.
The UN Security Council consists of 10 non-permanent members who sit alongside the five permanent, veto-wielding members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
The non-permanent seats are allocated according to a rotation pattern set by the Assembly back in 1963, to ensure a proportionate representation over time from different parts of the world: five from African and Asian states; one from Eastern European states; two from Latin American states; and two from Western European and Other states.
This year, the one seat for the African Group - currently held by Angola - is uncontested, with only one candidate - Ethiopia - put forward by the regional group.
The same holds true for the seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States - currently held by Venezuela - for which Bolivia has been nominated.
However, the seat for the Asia-Pacific Group - currently held by Malaysia - is being contested this year, with two member states - Kazakhstan and Thailand - presenting their candidacies.
Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden are competing for two seats under the Western European and Others Group - which are currently held by New Zealand and Spain.
With the exception of Kazakhstan, all competing candidate countries have served on the council in the past.
The new members will join the five other non-permanent members of the council whose terms expire at the end of 2017: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.
To secure a non-permanent seat on the council, a candidate country must garner the votes of two-thirds of the member states present at the General Assembly session.
If all 193 UN member states are present tomorrow, this means winning a seat will require 129 positive votes.
