A/70/PV.42 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 document before the Assembly 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 2015, of the terms of office of Botswana, El Salvador, France, Peru, the Russian Federation and the United Republic of Tanzania. Those States are eligible for immediate re-election. I should like to remind members that, after 1 January 2016, the following States will remain members of the Committee: Armenia, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Japan, *1533818* 15-33818 (E) Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Those 25 States are therefore 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: the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe, for the two seats among the African States; the Russian Federation, for the one seat among the Eastern European States; Argentina and Peru, for the two seats among the Latin American and Caribbean States; and France, for one of the two 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 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 a 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 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 — namely, Argentina, France, Peru, the Russian Federation, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe — elected members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2016?

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 one member from the Western European and other States for election for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2016. Members are also reminded that there remains one vacancy from among the Western European and other States, for a term beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2015, and one vacancy each from the Asia-Pacific States and the Western European and other States, for a term beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2017. The General Assembly will be in a position to act on these vacancies upon nomination by the Economic and Social Council. We have thus concluded this stage of our consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 113. (e) Election of eighteen members of the Human Rights Council

The General Assembly will now turn to sub-item (e) of agenda item 113 for the election of 18 members of the Human Rights Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2015. The 18 outgoing members are as follows: Argentina, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In accordance with paragraph 7 of resolution 60/251, of 15 March 2006, those Member States are eligible for immediate re-election, except the delegation that has served two consecutive terms, namely, the United States of America. The 18 vacant seats should be distributed among the regional groups as follows: five seats for the African States, five seats for the Asia-Pacific States, two seats for the Eastern European States, three seats for the Latin American and Caribbean States, and three seats for the Western European and other States. The General Assembly will now proceed to the election of the 18 members of the Human Rights Council. In accordance with resolution 60/251, membership in the Council shall be open to all States Members of the United Nations, and the members of the Council shall serve for a period of three years. The members of the Council shall be elected directly and individually, by secret ballot, by the majority of the members of the General Assembly. Accordingly, 97 votes constitute a majority in the General Assembly, which has a membership of 193 States. In accordance with paragraphs 4 and 5 of resolution 65/281, of 17 June 2011, beginning in 2013 the Human Rights Council started its yearly membership cycle on 1 January and, as a transitional measure, the period of office of members of the Human Rights Council ending in June 2015 was exceptionally extended until the end of the calendar year. The following States will continue to be members of the Human Rights Council: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Botswana, China, the Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Viet Nam. The names of those States therefore should not appear on the ballot papers. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly on elections. For this election, rules 92 and 94 of the rules of procedure shall be applied. Consistent with the practice of the General Assembly, if more than the required number of Member States have obtained the votes of the majority of the members of the Assembly on the same ballot, those Member States that have obtained the largest number of votes above the required majority will be considered as elected, up to the number of seats to be filled. Also, consistent with past practice, if, in case of a tie vote, it should become necessary to determine one 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?

Accordingly, the election shall be held by secret ballot, and there shall be no nominations. Again, I should like to repeat that the 18 vacant seats are to be filled from among the regional groups as follows: five seats from among the African States, five seats from among the Asia-Pacific States, two seats from among the Eastern European States, three seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, and three seats from among the Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect that pattern. I have also been informed by the Secretariat that voluntary pledges and commitments made by Member States, in accordance with paragraph 8 of resolution 60/251, were issued, when received on time, before the elections, as official documents of the seventieth session of the General Assembly. 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 nameplate. I should like to seek the usual cooperation of representatives during the time when the General Assembly is conducting the elections. Please be reminded that, during the voting procedure, all campaigning should cease in the General Assembly Hall. That means that, once the voting has begun, no more campaign material can be distributed inside the Hall. All representatives are requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I should also like to remind delegations to refrain from extending congratulations in the General Assembly Hall right after the announcement of the elected members. This is disruptive to the distribution of ballot papers for any subsequent rounds of balloting. I thank all representatives for their cooperation. I would also like to remind members of the media 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 thank all representatives for their cooperation. We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers marked “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” and “E” will now be distributed. Each ballot paper is assigned to one of the five regional groups and has the corresponding number of blank lines for the seats assigned to that region. 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 paper containing more names from the relevant region than the number of seats assigned to it will be declared invalid. A ballot paper 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 both the names of Member States that belong to and that are from outside of that region, the ballot remains valid, but only the names of the Member States that belong to the relevant region will be counted. If a ballot paper contains names of Member States that are not eligible for re-election or that are currently members of the Council, the ballot remains valid but those names will not be counted.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Togo 189 Ethiopia 186 Côte d’Ivoire 186 Kenya 180 Burundi 162 Uganda 12 Cameroon 2 Benin 1 Lesotho 1 Group B — Asia-Pacific States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Mongolia 172 United Arab Emirates 159 Kyrgyzstan 147 Republic of Korea 136 Philippines 113 Lao People’s Democratic Republic 105 Pakistan 105 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 1 Kazakhstan 1 Thailand 1 Group C — Eastern European States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 191 Abstentions: 4 Number of members voting: 187 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Slovenia 179 Georgia 177 Romania 1 Hungary 1 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Panama 157 Ecuador 152 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 131 Bahamas 113 Group E — Western European and other States Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 2 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 7 Number of members voting: 183 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Switzerland 176 Germany 174 Belgium 172 Luxembourg 1 Sweden 1

The following 18 States have just been elected members of the Human Rights Council for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2016: Belgium, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I congratulate those States that have been elected members of the Human Rights Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. The Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (e) of agenda item 113. Programme of work

I would like to make the following announcement concerning the work of the plenary. The consideration of agenda item 39, entitled “The situation in Afghanistan”, originally scheduled for Thursday, 29 October 2015, will now take place on Monday, 30 November. The joint debate on agenda item 119, entitled “Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations”, and agenda item 120, entitled “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly”, originally scheduled for Monday, 2 November, will now take place on Tuesday, 3 November. The consideration of agenda item 118, entitled “Follow-up to the commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade”, originally scheduled for Tuesday, 3 November, will now take place on Wednesday, 4 November.