A/69/PV.32 General Assembly

Pursuant to General Assembly decision 42/450, of 17 December 1987, and upon nomination by the Economic and Social Council, the Assembly elects the members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. The Assembly has before it document A/69/291, which contains the nominations by the Economic and Social Council to fill the vacancies in the Committee that will occur as a result of the expiration on 31 December 2014 of the terms of office of Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cuba, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Republic of Moldova, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. Those States are eligible for immediate re-election. I should like to remind members that after 1 January 2015, the following States will remain members of the Committee: Benin, Botswana, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Haiti, Japan, Morocco, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the *1459375* 14-59375 (E) United Republic of Tanzania. Those 13 States therefore are not eligible in this election. I should now like to inform members that the following States have been nominated by the Economic and Social Council: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Namibia for the four seats among the African States; the Islamic Republic of Iran for one of the four seats among the Asia-Pacific States; Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine for three seats among the Eastern European States; Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the four seats among the Latin American and Caribbean States; and Italy for one of the five seats among the Western European and other States. In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, all elections should be held by secret ballot and there shall be no nominations. However, I should like to recall paragraph 16 of General Assembly decision 34/401, whereby the practice of dispensing with the secret ballot for elections to subsidiary organs when the number of candidates corresponds to the number of seats to be filled should become standard, unless a delegation specifically requests a vote on the given election. In the absence of such a request, may I take it that the Assembly decides to proceed to the election on the basis of dispensing with the secret ballot?

The number of States nominated from among the African States, the Asia-Pacific States, the Eastern European States, the Latin American and Caribbean States and the Western European and other States is equal to or less than the number of seats to be filled in each of those groups. May I therefore take it that the Assembly wishes to declare those States nominated by the Economic and Social Council ‑ Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Namibia, Ukraine, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - elected members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination for three-year terms of office, beginning 1 January 2015?

I congratulate the States that have just been elected members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. Members are reminded that the Economic and Social Council postponed the nomination of three members from Asia-Pacific States and four members from Western European and other States for election to a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2015. Members are also reminded that there remain two vacancies from among Western European and other States, for a term beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2014, and one vacancy also from among the Western European and other States, for a term beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2015. The General Assembly will be in a position to act on those vacancies upon nomination by the Economic and Social Council. The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 112.

The General Assembly will now proceed to the election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2014. The 18 outgoing members are: Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria and Portugal. Pursuant to rule 146 of the rules of procedure, those countries are eligible for immediate re-election. As of 1 January 2015, the following States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Botswana, Canada, China, Colombia, the Congo, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Georgia, Guatemala, Haiti, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, South Africa, the Sudan, Sweden, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. 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 2015, the 18 members should be elected as follows: five from African States, three from Asia-Pacific 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 that pattern. I should like to inform the 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. Consistent with past practice, in the case of a tie vote making it necessary to determine the candidate to be elected or that will proceed to the next round of restricted balloting, there will be a special restricted ballot limited to those candidates that have obtained an equal number of votes. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees to those procedures?

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 candidates of the respective regional groups, the secretariat has been informed of the following. For the five vacant seats from among the African States, the Group has endorsed five candidates: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. For the three vacant seats from among the Asia-Pacific States, the Group has endorsed three candidates: India, Japan and Pakistan. For the one vacant seat from among the Eastern European States, the Group has endorsed one candidate: Estonia. For the four vacant seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Argentina, Brazil, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago. For the five vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, the Group has five candidates: Austria, France, Germany, Greece 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. In addition, ballot papers will be given only to the representatives seated directly behind the country’s name plate. I should like to seek the cooperation of the representatives during the time of the conduct of the election. Please be reminded that during the voting process all campaigning should cease in the General Assembly Hall. That means in particular that once the meeting has begun, no more campaign materials can be distributed inside the Hall. All representatives are also requested to remain in their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I thank members for their cooperation. We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers are 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. The ballot papers will also be declared invalid if none of the names of the Member States on that ballot belong to the relevant region. If the ballot paper of the region contains both names of the Member States that belong to and that are outside 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.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African States Number of ballot papers: 187 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 187 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Ghana 185 Burkina Faso 181 Uganda 181 Zimbabwe 178 Mauritania 177 Nigeria 2 Swaziland 1 South Sudan 1 Ethiopia 1 Morocco 1 Group B — Asia-Pacific States Number of ballot papers: 187 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 187 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: India 183 Japan 181 Pakistan 181 Palau 1 Number of ballot papers: 187 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 187 Abstentions: 5 Number of members present and voting: 182 Required two-thirds majority: 122 Number of votes obtained: Estonia 182 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States Number of ballot papers: 187 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 187 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Brazil 183 Trinidad and Tobago 183 Argentina 182 Honduras 181 Uruguay 1 Chile 1 Group E — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 187 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 187 Abstentions: 5 Number of members present and voting: 182 Required two-thirds majority: 122 Number of votes obtained: France 178 Germany 178 Austria 177 Greece 177 Portugal 177 Australia 2 the Netherlands 1

I congratulate those States that have been elected members of the Economic and Social Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 111.