A/70/PV.37 General Assembly

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 2015. The 18 outgoing members are: Albania, Australia, Benin, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Colombia, Croatia, Haiti, Italy, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Nepal, San Marino, South Africa, the Sudan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and the United States of America. Pursuant to rule 146 of the rules of procedure, these countries are eligible for immediate re-election. As of 1 January 2016, the following States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Panama, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe. The names of these 36 States should therefore not appear on the ballots. *1532625* 15-32625 (E) In accordance with paragraph 4 of 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 2016, the 18 members should be elected as follows: five from African States, four from Asia-Pacific States, two 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 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 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 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: Algeria, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia and South Africa. For the four vacant seats from among the Asia-Pacific States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Viet Nam. For the two vacant seats from among the Eastern European States, the Group has endorsed two candidates: the Czech Republic and the Republic of Moldova. For the three vacant seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, the Group has endorsed three candidates: Chile, Guyana and Peru. For the four vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Australia, Belgium, Italy and the United States of America. 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 representative seated directly behind the country’s name plate. 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. This means in particular that once the meeting has begun, no more campaign material can be distributed inside the Hall. All delegations are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I thank the delegations for their cooperation. 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 both the names of 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: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 0 Number of members present and voting: 188 Required two-thirds majority: 126 Number of votes obtained: Algeria 185 Nigeria 184 Somalia 183 Rwanda 181 South Africa 180 Burundi 1 Côte d’Ivoire 1 Ethiopia 1 Group B — Asia-Pacific States Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 187 Required two-thirds majority: 125 Number of votes obtained: Lebanon 182 Viet Nam 182 Afghanistan 179 Iraq 179 Mongolia 1 Philippines 1 Saudi Arabia 1 United Arab Emirates 1 Group C — Eastern European States Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 4 Number of members present and voting: 184 Required two-thirds majority: 123 Number of votes obtained: Czech Republic 179 Republic of Moldova 179 Slovenia 1 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Guyana 182 Chile 180 Peru 180 Bahamas 1 Ecuador 1 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 1 Group E — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 6 Number of members present and voting: 182 Required two-thirds majority: 122 Number of votes obtained: Italy 178 Australia 172 Belgium 170 United States 169 Ireland 1 San Marino 1

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 this stage of our consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 112.