A/70/PV.106 General Assembly

Members will recall that the General Assembly, in its resolution 68/307, decided to conduct the elections of the non-permanent members of the Security Council about six months before the elected members assume their responsibilities, beginning at the seventieth session. The General Assembly will now proceed to the election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2016. The five outgoing non-permanent members are the following: Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Those five States cannot be re-elected. Their names should therefore not appear on the ballot papers. Apart from the five permanent members, the Security Council will include the following States in the year 2017: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay. The names of those States should therefore also not appear on the ballot papers. Of the five non-permanent members that will remain in office in the year 2017, three are from the African and the Asia-Pacific States, one is from the Eastern European States, and one is from the Latin American and the Caribbean States. Consequently, pursuant to paragraph 3 of resolution 1991 A (XVIII), of 17 December 1963, the five non-permanent members should be elected according to the following pattern: two from African and Asia-Pacific States, one from Latin American and the Caribbean States, and two from Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect that pattern. In accordance with established practice, there is an understanding to the effect that, of the two States to be elected from among the African and Asia-Pacific States, one should be from Africa and one from the Asia-Pacific region. I should like to inform the Assembly that those candidates — their number not to exceed the number of seats to be filled — receiving the greatest number of votes and a two-thirds majority of those present and voting will be declared elected. If the number of candidates obtaining a two-thirds majority is less than the number of members to be elected, there shall be additional ballots to fill the remaining places, the voting being restricted to the candidates obtaining the greatest number of votes in the previous ballot to a number not more than twice the places remaining to be filled. Also, consistent with past practice, in case a tied vote should make it necessary to determine the candidate to be elected or 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 these 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 candidatures, the Secretariat has been informed by the Chairpersons of the respective regional groups of the following. For the two vacant seats from among the African and Asia-Pacific States, there are three candidates, namely, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Thailand. Of these three candidates, Ethiopia is an endorsed candidate. For the one vacant seat from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, there is one endorsed candidate, namely, the Plurinational State of Bolivia. For the two vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, there are three candidates, namely, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, we shall now proceed to the election by secret ballot. I should like to seek the usual cooperation of 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 material can be distributed inside the Hall. All participants are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I thank them for their cooperation. I would also like to remind members of the press not to focus their cameras on delegations during the voting process, taking into account that this is a secret ballot, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. I also thank them for their cooperation. 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 delegate seated directly behind the country’s nameplate. 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. I would like to ask representatives to write on the ballot papers marked “A”, for the African and Asia- Pacific 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 name 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 none of the names of the Member States on that ballot belong to the relevant region. If a ballot paper of a region includes names of Member States that belong to that region and of Member States that are from 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 and Asia-Pacific States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 2 Number of members voting: 190 Required two-thirds majority: 127 Number of votes obtained: Ethiopia 185 Kazakhstan 113 Thailand 77 Group B — Latin American and Caribbean States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 8 Number of members voting: 185 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 183 Colombia 1 Cuba 1 Group C — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 2 Number of members voting: 191 Required two-thirds majority: 128 Number of votes obtained: Sweden 134 Netherlands 125 Italy 113 Belgium 1

There remain two seats to be filled, one seat from the African and Asia-Pacific States and one seat from the Western European and other States. In accordance with established practice, there is an understanding to the effect that of the two seats allocated to the African and Asia-Pacific States, one should be from the African States and one from the Asia-Pacific States. As Ethiopia has already been elected, the remaining seat among the African and Asia-Pacific States should be filled by one Asia-Pacific State. We shall therefore proceed to the first restricted ballot. The second round of balloting shall be restricted to States from the African and Asia-Pacific States that were not elected but obtained the largest number of votes in the previous ballot, namely, Kazakhstan and Thailand, and to the States from among the Western European and other States that were not elected but obtained the largest number of votes in the previous ballot, namely, Italy and the Netherlands. This is in accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure. 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” and “C” will now be distributed. May I ask representatives to write on the ballot papers the names of the States for which they wish to vote. Ballot papers marked “A” for the African and Asia-Pacific States will be declared invalid if they contain the name of a State other than Kazakhstan or Thailand as well as if they contain the name of more than one State. Ballot papers marked “C” for the Western European and other States will be declared invalid if they contain the name of a State other than Italy or the Netherlands as well as if they contain the name of more than one State. All participants are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African and Asia-Pacific States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 193 Required two-thirds majority: 129 Number of votes obtained: Kazakhstan 138 Thailand 55 Group C — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 2 Number of members voting: 191 Required two-thirds majority: 128 Number of votes obtained: Netherlands 99 Italy 92

There remains one seat to be filled, from the Western European and other States. We shall therefore proceed to the second restricted ballot. This third round of balloting shall be restricted to States from among the Western European and other States that were not elected but obtained the largest number of votes in the first ballot, namely, Italy and the Netherlands. This is in accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure. 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 “C” will now be distributed. May I ask representatives to write on the ballot papers the names of the State for which they wish to vote. Ballot papers marked “C” for the Western European and other States will be declared invalid if they contain the name of a State other than Italy or the Netherlands as well as if they contain the name of more than one State. All participants are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group C — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 3 Number of members voting: 190 Required two-thirds majority: 127 Number of votes obtained: Netherlands 96 Italy 94 The President: This restricted ballot has again been inconclusive. In accordance with the rules of procedure, we should continue with a third restricted ballot. However, I propose that we postpone further balloting until 3 p.m.