A/58/PV.61 General Assembly
The meeting was called to order at 3.35 p.m.
15. Elections to fill vacancies in principal organs (b) Election of eighteen members of the Economic and Social Council
As members will recall, when the 60th plenary meeting was adjourned earlier today, there still remained one seat from among the Eastern European States to be filled.
In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, we shall proceed now to the third round of balloting, by secret ballot, for the remaining seat.
The third round of balloting shall be restricted to the two States from among the Eastern European States that were not elected but that obtained the largest number of votes in the previous ballot, namely Belarus and Poland. That is in accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure.
Also in connection with this election, I would like to remind members that, in accordance with Article 19 of the Charter and resolution 58/1 of 16 October 2003, two Member States will not be given ballot papers.
Before we begin the voting process, I should like to remind members that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, no
representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order on the actual conduct of the voting.
We shall now begin the voting process.
Ballot papers marked “C” will now be distributed.
May I ask representatives to write on the ballot papers the name of the one State for which they wish to vote. Ballot papers marked “C” for the Eastern European States will be declared invalid if they contain the name of a State other than Belarus or Poland or if they contain the names of more than one State.
At the invitation of the President, Mr. Rajalingam (Fiji), Mrs. Gordon (Haiti), Mr. Sigtryggson (Iceland) and Ms. Rastovac (Serbia and Montenegro) acted as tellers.
A vote was taken by secret ballot.
The meeting was suspended at 3.50 p.m. and resumed at 4.20 p.m.
The result of the voting is as follows:
Group C — Eastern European States Number of ballot papers: 172 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 172 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 172 Required two-thirds majority: 115
Number of votes obtained: Poland 113 Belarus 59
Since, again, no candidate obtained the required two-thirds majority in the previous ballot, there still remains one seat to be filled from among the Eastern European States.
We shall therefore proceed to the third restricted ballot. I would like to remind members that this shall be the last restricted ballot in this series.
This fourth round of balloting shall be restricted to the two States from among the Eastern European States that were not elected but that obtained the largest number of votes in the previous ballot, namely Belarus and Poland. That is in accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure.
Before we begin the voting process, I should like to remind members that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order on the actual conduct of the voting.
We shall now begin the voting process.
Ballot papers marked “C” will now be distributed.
May I ask representatives to write on the ballot papers the name of the one State for which they wish to vote. Ballot papers marked “C” for the Eastern European States will be declared invalid if they contain the name of a State other than Belarus or Poland or if they contain the names of more than one State.
I call on the representative of Belarus on a point of order.
I should like to thank all the delegations that have voted in favour of the Republic of Belarus, but I wish to announce that the Republic of Belarus is withdrawing its candidacy from the fourth round of balloting.
Taking into account the statement made by the representative of Belarus, we shall proceed to the current restricted ballot in accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure.
At the invitation of the President, Mr. Rajalingam (Fiji), Mrs. Gordon (Haiti), Mr. Sigtryggson (Iceland) and Ms. Rastovac (Serbia and Montenegro) acted as tellers.
A vote was taken by secret ballot.
The meeting was suspended at 4.35 p.m. and resumed at 4.45 p.m.
The result of the voting is as follows:
Group C — Eastern European States Number of ballot papers: 170 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 170 Abstentions: 8 Number of members voting: 162 Required two-thirds majority: 108 Number of votes obtained: Poland 144 Belarus 18
Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, Poland was elected a member of the Economic and Social Council for a three-year term beginning 1 January 2004.
The following 18 States have thus been elected members of the Economic and Social Council for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2004: Armenia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Panama, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America.
I congratulate those States which have been elected members of the Economic and Social Council and commiserate with those which have not. I thank the tellers and all those who participated in this process for their assistance in this election.
This concludes our consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 15.
The meeting rose at 4.50 p.m.