A/72/PV.45 General Assembly

As members are aware, there is still one vacancy on the Court to be filled. The Assembly will now proceed to vote with respect to the remaining vacancy. I should once again like to remind representatives that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure, “After the President has announced the beginning of voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting”. We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers will now be distributed. Ballot papers will be given only to the representatives seated directly behind their countries’ nameplates. Representatives are requested to use only the ballot papers now being distributed. All the candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers are eligible. The names of the four candidates who have already obtained an absolute majority of votes — Mr. Ronny Abraham, Mr. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Mr. Nawaf Salam and Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf — have been deleted from the ballot. I would like to remind delegations that the name of only one candidate should be marked with a cross. Any ballot paper on which more than one name is marked will be considered invalid. Votes may be cast only for those whose names appear on the ballot papers.

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 1 Number of members voting: 191 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Mr. Dalveer Bhandari (India) 115 Mr. Christopher Greenwood (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) 76 The following candidate has obtained an absolute majority in the General Assembly: Mr. Dalveer Bhandari. I have communicated the results of the voting to the President of the Security Council. I have also received a letter from the President of the Security Council, which reads: “I have the honour to inform you that at the 8093rd meeting of the Security Council, held on 9 November 2017, for the purpose of electing one member of the International Court of Justice for a term of office beginning on 6 February 2018, Mr. Christopher Greenwood (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) obtained an absolute majority of votes.” As a result of the independent voting in the General Assembly and in the Security Council, no candidate has obtained an absolute majority in both bodies. In accordance with the provisions of Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, it will be necessary to hold another meeting to fill the remaining vacancy. I propose that this meeting be adjourned and that the next meeting to vote on the remaining vacancy be held on Monday, 13 November 2017, at 3 p.m., owing to the meeting schedule of the General Assembly.