A/65/PV.35 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 2011, the following States from the Group of Western European and other States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Malta 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 two seats for the Group of Western European and other States. The election of eighteen 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 that have been distributed and to write on them the name of the two States for which they wish to vote. A ballot will be declared invalid if it contains the names of more than two Member States from the relevant region for the two vacant seats assigned to it. A ballot will also be declared invalid if the name of a 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 (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 186 Number of invalid ballots: 4 Number of valid ballots: 182 Abstentions: 5 Number of members voting: 177 Required two-thirds majority: 118 Number of votes obtained: Spain 162 Switzerland 160 United Kingdom 7 Finland 7 Australia 5 Norway 4 Turkey 2 Austria 1 Liechtenstein 1

I congratulate Spain and Switzerland on having been elected members of the Economic and Social Council. The General Assembly will next turn to the election of eighteen members of the Economic and Social Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2010. I give the floor to the representative of Nepal.

I have the honour to inform this body that the Government of Nepal has decided to withdraw its candidacy for membership in the Economic and Social Council for the period 2011 to 2013, for which the election is now being held. Allow me also to report that my Government has decided to present its candidacy for membership in the Economic and Social Council for the period 2013 to 2015. My Government would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Governments that have already expressed their support for our candidacy.

The eighteen outgoing members are: Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Congo, Finland, Malaysia, Mozambique, Niger, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Uruguay. Pursuant to rule 146 of the rules of procedure, those countries are eligible for immediate re-election. Members will recall that Liechtenstein and Turkey relinquished their seats on the Council, effective 1 January 2011, and that Spain and Switzerland have just been elected to fill those vacancies. Consequently, as of 1 January 2011, the following States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Argentina, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United States of America, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Zambia. The names of those 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 2011, the 18 members should be elected as follows: four from African States, four from Asian States, three from Eastern European States, three from Latin American and Caribbean States and four from Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect that pattern. I should like to inform the General Assembly that those candidates — their number not exceeding the number of seats to be filled — that 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 that 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. With regard to candidatures of the respective regional Groups, the Secretariat has been informed of the following. For the four vacant seats from among the African States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Cameroon, Gabon, Malawi and Senegal. For the four vacant seats from among the Asian States, there are five candidates: Bahrain, China, Pakistan, Qatar and the Republic of Korea. For the three vacant seats from among the Eastern European States, the Group has endorsed Hungary, Latvia and the Russian Federation. For the three vacant seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, the Group has endorsed three candidates: Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua. For the four vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Australia, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 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 the names of one or more 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 (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 189 Required two-thirds majority: 126 Number of votes obtained: Senegal 187 Gabon 185 Malawi 184 Cameroon 183 Group B — Asian States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 190 Required two-thirds majority: 127 Number of votes obtained: China 150 Republic of Korea 150 Pakistan 149 Qatar 145 Bahrain 137 Nepal 1 Group C — Eastern European States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 2 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 1 Number of members voting: 187 Required two-thirds majority: 125 Number of votes obtained: Russian Federation 182 Hungary 175 Latvia 155 Lithuania 17 Bulgaria 13 Poland 1 Republic of Moldova 1 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 1 Number of members voting: 189 Required two-thirds majority: 126 Number of votes obtained: Mexico 184 Ecuador 182 Nicaragua 180 Group E — Western European and other States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 8 Number of members voting: 181 Required two-thirds majority: 121 Number of votes obtained: Finland 177 Norway 177 Australia 171 United Kingdom 170 Austria 2

I congratulate the States that 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 111.