A/63/PV.30 General Assembly

In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, the election shall be held by secret ballot and there shall be no nominations. We shall now proceed accordingly. I should like to inform Members that, as of 1 January 2009, the following States from the Group of Western European and other States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. The names of those seven States should therefore not appear on the 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. Allow me to remind Members that they are now voting in the by-election for one seat for the Western European and other States. The election of the 18 members of the Council will take place immediately following this by-election. Ballot papers will now be distributed. I request representatives to use only those ballot papers and to write on them the name of the State for which they wish to vote. A ballot will be declared invalid if it contains the name of more than one Member State from the relevant region for the one vacant seat assigned to it. A ballot will also be declared invalid if the name of the Member State on that ballot does not belong to the relevant region.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group B – Western European and Other States (1 seat) Number of ballot papers: 182 Number of invalid ballots: 4 Number of valid ballots: 178 Abstentions: 8 Number of Members voting: 170 Required two-thirds majority: 114 Number of votes obtained: Norway 154 France 4 Germany 3 Greece 3 Portugal 3 Liechtenstein 1 Spain 1 Sweden 1 Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, Norway has thus been elected a member of the Economic and Social Council for a term of office beginning on 1 January 2009 and ending on 31 December 2010. I congratulate Norway on having been elected a member of the Economic and Social Council. The General Assembly will next turn to the election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2008. The 18 outgoing members are: Angola, Austria, Benin, Cuba, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Japan, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mauritania, Paraguay, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka. Pursuant to rule 146 of the rules of procedure, these countries are eligible for immediate re-election. Members will recall that Iceland relinquished its seat on the Economic and Social Council, effective 1 January 2009, and that Norway has just been elected to fill that vacancy. Consequently, as of 1 January 2009, the following States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cameroon, Cape Verde, China, the Congo, El Salvador, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Niger, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Somalia, the Sudan, Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Uruguay. The names of these 36 States should therefore not appear on the ballots. In accordance with paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 2847 (XXVI) of 20 December 1971, and taking into account the number of States that will remain members of the Council after 1 January 2009, the 18 members should be elected as follows: five from African States, three from Asian States, one from Eastern European States, four from Latin American and Caribbean States and five from Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect this pattern. I should like to inform the Assembly that those candidates, their number not exceeding the number of seats to be filled, who receive a two-thirds majority and the greatest number of votes by Members present and voting, will be declared elected. In the case of a tie vote for a remaining seat, there will be a special restricted ballot limited to those candidates who have obtained an equal number of votes. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees to that procedure?

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 of the respective regional Groups, the Secretariat has been informed that for the five vacant seats from among the African States, the Group has endorsed five candidates: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Morocco and Namibia. For the three vacant seats from among the Asian States, the Group has endorsed three candidates: India, Japan and Saudi Arabia. For the one vacant seat from among the Eastern European States, the Group has endorsed Estonia. For the four vacant seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Guatemala, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For the five vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, the Group has endorsed five candidates: France, Germany, Greece, Liechtenstein and Portugal. 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. Ballot papers marked A, B, C, D and E will now be distributed. I request representatives to use only those ballot papers and to write on them the names of the 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 none of the names of the Member States on that ballot belongs to the relevant region. If a ballot paper of a region contains some of the names of the 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 States (5 seats) Number of ballot papers: 184 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 184 Abstentions: 1 Number of Members voting: 183 Required two-thirds majority: 122 Number of votes obtained: Côte d’Ivoire 179 Namibia 179 Mauritius 178 Guinea-Bissau 177 Morocco 174 Group B — Asian States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 184 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 184 Abstentions: 0 Number of Members voting: 184 Required two-thirds majority: 123 Number of votes obtained: Saudi Arabia 180 India 179 Japan 177 Group C — Eastern European States (1 seat) Number of ballot papers: 184 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 184 Abstentions: 7 Number of Members voting: 177 Required two-thirds majority: 118 Number of votes obtained: Estonia 177 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 184 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 184 Abstentions: 0 Number of Members voting: 184 Required two-thirds majority: 123 Number of votes obtained: Guatemala 180 Saint Kitts and Nevis 180 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 177 Peru 176 Mexico 2 Haiti 1 Group E — Western European and other States (5 seats) Number of ballot papers: 184 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 184 Abstentions: 1 Number of Members voting: 183 Required two-thirds majority: 122 Number of votes obtained: Portugal 179 Germany 178 Greece 177 Liechtenstein 170 France 168 Spain 2 Turkey 1 Having obtained the required two-thirds majority of Members present and voting, the following 18 States have thus been elected members of the Economic and Social Council for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2009: Côte d’Ivoire, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, India, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Peru, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I congratulate the States which have been elected members of the Economic and Social Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. This concludes our consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 103.