A/72/PV.31 General Assembly

Before we begin, let me strongly condemn the terror attacks that took place in Mogadishu over the weekend. I want to express my deepest condolences to the people and the Government of Somalia. We stand in solidarity with them. I am outraged by the loss of so many innocent lives. This horrific incident further highlights the need for urgent action to prevent and counter all forms of terrorism, including by tackling its root causes.

The General Assembly will now proceed with the election of 15 members of the Human Rights Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2017. The 15 outgoing members are the following: Albania, Bangladesh, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Botswana, the Congo, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal and Qatar. In accordance with operative paragraph 7 of General Assembly resolution 60/251, of 15 March 2006, these Member States are eligible for immediate re-election, except those that have served two consecutive terms, namely, Botswana, the Congo, India and Indonesia. The 15 vacant seats should be distributed among the regional groups as follows: four seats for the African States; four seats for the Asia-Pacific States; two seats for the Eastern European States; three seats for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and two seats for the Western European and other States. 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. The following States will continue to be members of the Human Rights Council: Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The names of these States, therefore, should not appear on the ballot papers. I remind delegations that the names of the following Member States should also not appear on the ballot papers, as they have served two consecutive terms and are therefore not eligible for this election: Botswana, the Congo, India and Indonesia. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly on elections. For this election, rule 92 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, as recently amended by Assembly resolution 71/323, and rule 94 shall be applied. Accordingly, the election shall be held by secret ballot. 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, due to a tie vote, it becomes 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?

I have also been informed by the Secretariat that voluntary pledges and commitments made by Member States in accordance with operative paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 were accordingly issued as official documents of the seventy-second 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. I should like to seek the usual cooperation of representatives during the time when the General Assembly is conducting elections and remind them that during the voting procedure, all campaigning should cease in the General Assembly Hall. This means that, once the meeting has begun, no more campaign material can be distributed inside the Hall. All representatives are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I thank members for their cooperation. I should also like to remind delegations to refrain from extending congratulations in the General Assembly Hall after the announcement of the elected members. This is disruptive to the distribution of ballot papers for any subsequent round of balloting. I thank members for your 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. I request representatives to use only these ballot papers. In addition, ballot papers will be given only to the representative seated directly behind the country’s nameplate. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 71/323, which sets out a new arrangement for ballot papers, the names of the candidates that have been communicated to the Secretariat prior to the election have been printed on the ballot papers for each of the regional groups. Also, additional blank lines corresponding to the number of vacant seats to be filled for each of the regional groups have been provided on the ballot papers for inscribing other names as necessary. Representatives are requested to check the boxes next to the names of candidates that are printed on the ballot papers and/or write other eligible names on the blank lines. The total number of checked boxes and handwritten names may not exceed the number of vacant seats to be filled as indicated on the ballot paper. A ballot paper containing more votes than the number of vacant seats indicated on the ballot paper will be declared invalid. Accordingly, for the ballot paper marked “A”, for African States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed four candidates; for the ballot paper marked “B”, for Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed four candidates; for the ballot paper marked “C”, for Eastern European States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed two candidates; for the ballot paper marked “D”, for Latin American and Caribbean States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed three candidates; and for the ballot papers marked “E”, for Western European and other States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed two candidates. If a ballot paper contains one of the following names of Member States, the ballot remains valid but the vote for these Member States will not be counted: names of Member States that do not belong to the region concerned; names of Member States that are not eligible for re-election; and names of Member States that will continue to be members of the Council next year.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 0 Number of members present and voting: 93 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Senegal 188 Angola 187 Nigeria 185 Democratic Republic of the Congo 151 Benin 1 Gambia 1 Guinea-Bissau 1 Group B — Asia-Pacific States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 192 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Nepal 166 Qatar 155 Pakistan 151 Afghanistan 130 Malaysia 129 Maldives 4 Fiji 2 Bhutan 1 Jordan 1 Tuvalu 1 Group C — Eastern European States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 3 Number of members present and voting: 190 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Slovakia 185 Ukraine 177 Estonia 1 Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 5 Number of members present and voting: 188 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Peru 180 Mexico 179 Chile 175 Group E — Western European and other States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 7 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Spain 180 Australia 176 Andorra 1 France 1 Greece 1

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 General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (d) of agenda item 114.