A/72/PV.51 General Assembly

As members are aware, there is still one vacancy on the Court to be filled. The Assembly will now proceed to vote in respect of the remaining vacancy. I give the floor to the representative of Uganda on a point of order.

I should like to thank you, Sir, for this opportunity. Not to prolong the process, but I thought that we could probably use an explanation as to the issue of abstentions and how it affects the absolute majority, because it remains the same even when the number of voters is reduced or changes in one way or the other.

I give the floor to the representative of the Secretariat.

Unlike other elections in the General Assembly, elections for the judges of the International Court of Justice, as was indicated earlier, are regulated not only by the rules of procedure of the General Assembly but also by the relevant Articles of the Statute, which requires an absolute majority of the membership for the election of judges. For that reason, 97 remains the absolute majority number for this particular election.

We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers will now be distributed. Ballot papers will be given only to the representative seated directly behind the country’s nameplate. Representatives are requested to use only the ballot papers that are being distributed. The two candidates whose names appear on the ballot paper are eligible. May I remind delegations that only the box next to the name of one candidate should be marked with a cross. Any ballot paper on which more than one name is checked 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: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 190 Absolute majority: 97 Number of individual votes obtained: Mr. Dalveer Bhandari (India) 111 Mr. Christopher Greenwood (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) 79

I have communicated the result of the voting to the President of the Security Council. The President of the General Assembly has received from the President of the Security Council the following letter, which I will read out on behalf of the President of the Assembly: “I have the honour to inform you that, at the 8096th meeting of the Security Council, held on 13 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.” The same candidate was not successful in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. 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 52nd meeting be held immediately to vote on the remaining vacancy.