A/72/PV.93 General Assembly

The General Assembly will proceed to the election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2018. The five outgoing non-permanent members are the following: the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Sweden. Those five States cannot be re-elected. Their names should therefore not appear on the ballot papers. Apart from the five permanent members, the Security Council will include the following States in the year 2019: Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland. The names of those States should therefore also not appear on the ballot papers. Of the five non-permanent members that will remain in office in the year 2019, three are from among African and Asia-Pacific States, one is from among Eastern European States and one is from among Latin American and Caribbean States. Consequently, pursuant to paragraph 3 of resolution 1991 A (XVIII), of 17 December 1963, the five non-permanent members should be elected according to the following pattern: two from African and Asia-Pacific States, one from Latin American and Caribbean States and two from Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect this pattern. In accordance with established practice, there is an understanding to the effect that, of the two States to be elected from among the African and Asia-Pacific States, one should be from Africa and one should be from the Asia-Pacific region. I should like to inform the Assembly that those candidates — their number not to exceed the number of seats to be filled — receiving the greatest number of votes and a two-thirds majority of those present and voting will be declared elected. If the number of candidates obtaining a two-thirds majority is less than the number of members to be elected, there shall be additional ballots to fill the remaining places, the voting being restricted to the candidates obtaining the greatest number of votes in the previous ballot to a number not more than twice the places remaining to be filled. Also, consistent with past practice, in the case of a tie vote, and when it becomes necessary to determine the candidate 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. Regarding candidatures, I have been informed by the Chairs of the respective regional groups of the following: for the two vacant seats from among the African and Asia-Pacific States, three candidates have been communicated, namely, Indonesia, Maldives and South Africa. Of those three candidates, South Africa is an endorsed candidate. For the one vacant seat from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, there is one endorsed candidate, namely, the Dominican Republic. For the two vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, two candidates have been communicated, namely, Belgium and Germany. 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. We shall now begin the voting process. Members are requested to remain seated until all ballots have been collected. Ballot papers marked “A”, “B” and “C” will now be distributed. In accordance with resolution 71/323, of 8 September 2017, the names of the candidates that have been communicated to the Secretariat at least 48 hours prior to the election today 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. I request representatives to use only those ballot papers that have been distributed and to put an “X” in the boxes next to the names of the candidates for which they wish to vote and/or to write other eligible names on the blank lines. If the box next to the name of a candidate is checked, the name of that candidate does not have to be repeated on the blank line. The total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed the number of vacant seats to be filled as indicated on the ballot paper. 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. Accordingly, on the ballot papers marked “A”, for the African States and Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two; on the ballot papers marked “B”, for the Latin American and Caribbean States, representatives may only check the box or write one name of an eligible Member State from the same region in the space provided; and on the ballot papers marked “C”, for Western European and other States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two. If a ballot paper for a region contains one of the following names of Member States, the ballot remains valid but the vote for those Member States will not be counted: first, the names of Member States that do not belong to the region concerned or, secondly, the names of Member States that will continue to be non-permanent members of the Security Council next year.

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 0 Number of members present and voting: 190 Required two-thirds majority: 127 Number of votes obtained:South Africa: 183 Indonesia: 144 Maldives 46 Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 6 Number of members present and voting: 184 Required two-thirds majority: 123 Number of votes obtained: Dominican Republic 184 Number of ballot papers: 190 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 190 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 188 Required two-thirds majority: 126 Number of votes obtained: Germany 184 Belgium 181

I congratulate the States that have been elected members of the Security Council. I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. This concludes our consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 113. Announcement regarding the results of the election of the Chairpersons of the Main Committees

I wish to inform members that the following representatives have been elected Chairpersons of the six Main Committees of the General Assembly at its seventy-third session and are accordingly members of the General Committee for that session: First Committee, Mr. Ion Jinga of Romania; Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), Mr. Lewis Brown of Liberia; Second Committee, Mr. Jorge Skinner-Kleé Arenales of Guatemala; Third Committee, Mr. Mahmoud Saikal of Afghanistan; Fifth Committee, Ms. Gillian Bird of Australia; and Sixth Committee, Mr. Michel Xavier Biang of Gabon. I congratulate the Chairpersons of the six Main Committees for the seventy-third session of the General Assembly on their election.