A/48/PV.53 General Assembly

As members are aware, there is still one vacancy on the Court to be filled. The Assembly will now proceed to vote in respect of the remaining vacancy. Once again, I should like to remind representatives that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure, "After the President has announced the beginning of voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting." This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Section, Room C-178, and incorporated in a copy of the record. NEW YORK Therefore, any announcements such as those concerning withdrawals of candidatures should be made prior to the commencement of the voting process - that is, before the distribution of the ballot papers. I call on the representative of Cape Verde.

In connection with the current elections, I thought that any candidate should come within the criteria set forth in the Statute of the Court. There is no such criterion as any particular legal system as applied to a region. I have followed these elections throughout, paying close attention to the results of the several ballots, and I have come to the conclusion that, although I still have a strong majority in the Security Council - nine votes, as in the first ballot - I should not put all members through the pain of having to spend more time here tonight. Accordingly, I believe that I should withdraw my candidature at this stage. I should like to pay tribute to all those who over the past year have been willing to meet with me and listen when I lobbied in support of my candidature. My special thanks go to all of them - in particular, the national groups of the 12 countries that endorsed my candidature - for the honour they gave me. I am also grateful to all those who, time and again, stuck with me and voted in favour of my candidature, either in the General Assembly or in the Security Council.

In the light of the statement of the representative of Cape Verde, his name will be deleted from the ballot paper. I thank him for his magnanimous gesture. Distr. GENERAL A/48/PV.53 24 November 1993 ENGLISH

Ballot papers are now being distributed. The voting process has now begun. All the candidates whose names appear on the ballot paper are eligible. Please note that the name of Mr. José Luis Jesus has been deleted from the ballot paper. May I remind delegations that they should mark the name of only one candidate, with a cross, as indicated on the ballot paper. Please make sure that marking is legible. Any ballot paper on which more than one name is marked will be declared invalid. Votes may be cast only for those whose names appear on the ballot papers.

In the election of one member of the International Court of Justice, the result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 167 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 167 Abstentions: 10 Number of members voting: 157 Required majority: 94 Number of votes obtained: Mr. Abdul G. Koroma (Sierra Leone) 145 Mr. Krzysztof Skubiszewski (Poland) 11 Mr. Nasrat Munla Hayder (Syrian Arab Republic) 1 Mr. Enrique P. Syquia (Philippines) 0 I have communicated the result of the vote to the President of the Security Council. I have in turn received from the President of the Security Council the following letter: "I have the honour to inform that at the 3311th meeting of the Security Council held on 10 November 1993 for the purpose of electing five members of the International Court of Office for a term of office beginning on 6 February 1994, Mr. Abdul G. Koroma obtained an absolute majority of votes." As a result of the independent voting in the Security Council and in the Assembly, Mr. Abdul Koroma has obtained an absolute majority in both organs and is therefore duly elected a member of the International Court of Justice to serve for a nine-year term commencing on 6 February 1994. I take this opportunity to extend to him the congratulations of the Assembly on his election, and to thank the tellers for their assistance. The following five candidates have thus been elected members of the International Court of Justice to serve for a nine-year term beginning on 6 February 1994: Mr. Carl-August Fleischhauer, Mr. Géza Herczegh, Mr. Abdul Koroma, Mr. Shigeru Oda and Mr. Shi Jiuyong. We have thus concluded our consideration of sub-item (c) of agenda item 15, and I thank you all, particularly Conference Services, for allowing us to conclude the process this evening.