A/63/PV.77 General Assembly

The candidates who obtain the largest number of votes and not less than a majority of the votes of those present and voting shall be considered elected and thereby appointed by the Assembly to the Appeals Tribunal. Also, balloting shall continue, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, until as many candidates as are required for the seats on the Appeals Tribunal to be filled have obtained, in one or more ballots, a majority of votes of the members present and voting. Once a candidate from a Member State has been elected, other candidates from the same Member State will be barred from standing in any subsequent rounds of balloting for any of the seats of the Appeals Tribunal. In the event that more than one candidate from the same Member State should obtain the required majority in the same round of balloting, only the candidate with the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. If more than one candidate from the same Member State should obtain, in any round of balloting, the required majority and the same number of votes, the President of the General Assembly shall decide between the candidates by the drawing of lots. May I take it that the Assembly agrees to those procedures?

Before proceeding further, I would like to inform members that, immediately after the completion of the elections, the drawing of lots will be held to select, from among the judges already elected, the three judges who shall serve three years. The General Assembly will now proceed to the election of the seven judges of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal. Only those candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers are eligible for election. Representatives are requested to indicate the candidates for whom they wish to vote by placing crosses against their names on the ballot papers. Each representative may vote for not more than seven candidates for appointment to the Appeals Tribunal. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly. Therefore, in accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, the election shall be held by secret ballot and there shall be no nominations. 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 will now be distributed. May I request representatives to indicate the candidates for whom they wish to vote by placing crosses against their names on the ballot papers. May I also remind representatives that they may vote for not more than seven candidates for appointment to the Appeals Tribunal. A ballot will be declared invalid if more than seven names are marked for appointment to the Tribunal.

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 172 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 172 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 172 Required majority: 87 Number of votes obtained: Mr. Kamaljit Singh Garewal (India) 154 Ms. Sophia Adinyira (Ghana) 124 Mr. Mark P. Painter (United States of America) 124 Ms. Inés Weinberg de Roca (Argentina) 122 Mr. Jean Courtial (France) 94 Ms. Rose Boyko (Canada) 92 Mr. Luis Maria Simón (Uruguay) 87 Mr. Tudor Pantiru (Republic of Moldova/ Romania) 85 Ms. Mary Faherty (Ireland) 82 Mr. Michael Kirby (Australia) 64 Mr. Virgilijus Valančius (Lithuania) 64 Mr. Roy Lewis (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) 56 Mr. Brian Tamberlin (Australia) 18 Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes, the following seven candidates have thus been elected judges of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal for a seven-year term beginning on 1 July 2009: Mr. Kamaljit Singh Garewal of India, Ms. Sophia Adinyira of Ghana, Mr. Mark P. Painter of the United States of America, Ms. Inés Weinberg de Roca of Argentina, Mr. Jean Courtial of France, Ms. Rose Boyko of Canada and Mr. Luis Maria Simón of Uruguay. I take this opportunity to extend to them the congratulations of the Assembly on their appointment and to thank the tellers for their efforts. In accordance with article 3(4) of the statute of the Appeals Tribunal, I shall now proceed to the drawing of lots to select, from among the judges already elected, the three judges who shall serve three years. As members can see, the box is empty. The names of the seven judges will now be put into the box. I shall now draw three names from the box to select the judges to serve for three years.

Having been drawn by lots, Mr. Jean Courtial of France, Mr. Kamaljit Singh Garewal of India and Mr. Mark P. Painter of the United States of America will serve as judges on the United Nations Appeals Tribunal for a term of three years, beginning on 1 July 2009. I now call on the representative of Canada.

I should like to congratulate all the candidates selected today. Canada strongly supports the new system of administration of justice at the United Nations, and the selections made today are another important step in the realization of that long-overdue reform. Without fail, all of the judges selected today conform to the highest standards of excellence, and we applaud their selection. However, Canada shares the concerns raised earlier in the day by the representatives of Senegal and France regarding the ability of the New York-based Dispute Tribunal to respond to the needs of French-speaking staff members of the United Nations. Canada would therefore like to add its voice to those urging the Internal Justice Council to consider this in its future nominations for these Tribunals.

The Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (l) of agenda item 105.