A/63/PV.28 General Assembly

In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, the election shall be held by secret ballot and there shall be no nominations. Regarding candidatures, I have been informed by the Chairpersons of the respective regional groups of the following. For the two vacant seats from among the African and Asian States, there are three candidates, namely, Uganda, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Japan. Of those three candidates, Uganda is an endorsed candidate. Members are reminded that, in keeping with established practice, of the two States to be elected from Africa and Asia, one should be from Africa and one from Asia. For the one vacant seat from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, there is one endorsed candidate, namely, Mexico. For the two vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, there are three candidates, namely, Austria, Iceland and Turkey. In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, we shall now proceed to the election by secret ballot. 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. Members are requested to remain seated until all ballots have been collected. Ballot papers marked “A”, “B” and “C” will now be distributed. I request representatives to use only those ballot papers that have been distributed. May I ask representatives to write clearly on the ballot papers marked “A”, for the African and Asian States, the names of the two States for which they wish to vote; on the ballot papers marked “B”, for the Latin American and Caribbean States, the name of the one State for which they wish to vote; and on the ballot papers marked “C”, for the Western European and other States, the names of the two States for which they wish to vote. A ballot will be declared invalid if it contains more names of Member States from the relevant region than the number of seats assigned to it. A ballot will also be declared invalid if all the names of the Member States on that ballot do not belong to the relevant region. If a ballot paper contains names of Member States that do not belong to that region, the ballot remains valid, but only the names of the Member States that belong to the relevant region will be counted. The names of Member States that do not belong to that region will not be counted at all.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African and Asian States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 1 Number of Members voting: 191 Required two-thirds majority: 128 Number of votes obtained: Uganda 181 Japan 158 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 32 Madagascar 2 Group B — Latin American and Caribbean States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 6 Number of Members voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Mexico 185 Brazil 1 Group C — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 0 Number of Members voting: 192 Required two-thirds majority: 128 Number of votes obtained: Turkey 151 Austria 133 Iceland 87 Australia 1 Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, the following States were elected members of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning 1 January 2009: Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda.

I congratulate the States that have been elected members of the Security Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. This concludes our consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 103.