A/72/PV.96 General Assembly

The Assembly will first proceed to a by-election to elect three members of the Economic and Social Council to fill the seats of three members that are relinquishing their seats before the end of their respective terms, in accordance with rule 140 of the rules of procedure. In that connection, I would like to draw the attention of members to document A/72/845, which contains a note verbale dated 20 April 2018 from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, and to document A/72/870, which contains a letter dated 3 May 2018 from the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations. In its note verbale, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, in its capacity as Chair of the Group of Asia-Pacific States for the month of April, announces that Tajikistan will relinquish its seat on the Economic and Social Council for the remainder of its term in favour of Cambodia, as of 31 December 2018, and that the United Arab Emirates will relinquish its seat on the Council for the remainder of its term in favour of Yemen, as of 31 December 2018. In his letter, the Permanent Representative of Italy, in his capacity as Chair of the Group of Western European and other States for the month of May, announces that Spain will relinquish its seat on the Economic and Social Council for the remainder of its term in favour of Malta, as of 31 December 2018. As a result, three vacancies will occur and new members must therefore be elected to fill the unexpired terms of office of Spain, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, commencing on 1 January 2019 and expiring on 31 December 2019 in the case of Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, and 31 December 2020 in the case of Spain. In accordance with paragraph 4 of resolution 2847 (XXVI), of 20 December 1971, and taking into account the fact that the vacancies will occur from among the Asia-Pacific States and the Western European and other States, the new members should be elected from those two regions. I should like to inform the Assembly that those candidates — their number not exceeding the number of seats to be filled — that receive a two-thirds majority and the greatest number of votes by members present and voting will be declared elected. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees to these procedures?

In accordance with rule 92 of the Assembly’s rules of procedure, the election shall be held by secret ballot. In accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure, we shall now proceed accordingly. I should like to inform members that, as of 1 January 2019, the following States from among the Asia-Pacific States and the Western European and other States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Andorra, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The names of those 13 States should therefore not appear on the 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. I request representatives to remain seated until all ballots have been collected. I should like to remind members that they are voting in the by-election for two seats for the Asia-Pacific States and one seat for the Western European and other States. The election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council will take place immediately following the by-election. Ballot papers marked “A” and “B” will now be distributed. In accordance with resolution 71/323, of 8 September 2017, the names of the States that have been communicated to the Secretariat at least 48 hours prior to the election today have been printed on the ballot papers for the two 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 States, as necessary. I request representatives to use only those ballot papers that have been distributed. For ballot papers marked “A” for Asia-Pacific States, members are requested 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. For ballot papers marked “B” for Western European and other States, members are requested to put an “X” in the box next to the name printed on the ballot paper or to write the name of another eligible State on the blank line. If the box next to the name of a State is checked, the name of that State 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, for the ballot papers marked “A” for Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two; and for the ballot papers marked “B” for Western European and other States, members can only check the box or write one name of an eligible Member State from the same region in the space provided. If a ballot paper of a region contains the names of Member States that do not belong to the region concerned or that continue to be members of the Council next year, the ballot remains valid but the vote for these Member States will not be counted.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — Asia-Pacific States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Cambodia 183 Yemen 176 Timor-Leste 1 Group B — Western European and Other States (1 seat) Number of ballot papers: 188 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 188 Abstentions: 3 Number of members present and voting: 185 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Malta 185

I congratulate Cambodia, Malta and Yemen on having been elected members of the Economic and Social Council. The General Assembly will next turn to the election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2018. The 18 outgoing members are Afghanistan, Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Guyana, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, the Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, the United States of America and Viet Nam. Pursuant to rule 146 of the rules of procedure, those countries are eligible for immediate re-election. Members will recall that Spain, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates relinquished their seats on the Economic and Social Council, effective 1 January 2019, and that Cambodia, Malta and Yemen have just been elected to fill those vacancies. Consequently, as of 1 January 2019, the following States will be represented on the Economic and Social Council: Andorra, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Sudan, Togo, Turkey, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Yemen. The names of these 36 States should therefore not appear on the ballots. In accordance with paragraph 4 of resolution 2847 (XXVI), of 20 December 1971, and taking into account the number of States that will remain members of the Council after 1 January 2019, the 18 members should be elected as follows: five from among the Group of African States, four from among the Group of Asia- Pacific States, two from among the Group of Eastern European States, three from among the Group of Latin American and the Caribbean States and four from among the Group of Western European and other States. The ballot papers reflect that pattern. I should like to inform the Assembly that those candidates, their number not exceeding the number of seats to be filled, that receive a two-thirds majority and the greatest number of votes by members present and voting will be declared elected. Also, consistent with past practice, in the case that due to a tie vote it becomes necessary to determine the candidate to be elected or to 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. With regard to candidatures of the respective regional groups, the Secretariat has been informed that for the five vacant seats from among the African States, the Group has endorsed five candidates: Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali. For the four vacant seats from among the Asia-Pacific States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. For the two vacant seats from among the Eastern European States, the Group has endorsed two candidates: Armenia and Ukraine. For the three vacant seats from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, the Secretariat has received communications from three candidates: Brazil, Jamaica and Paraguay. For the four vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United States of America. 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”, “C”, “D” and “E” will now be distributed. In accordance with resolution 71/323 of 8 September 2017, the names of the States 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 States, 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 States from the relevant region 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 State is checked, the name of that State 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. If a ballot paper of a region contains some names of States that do not belong to that region, the ballot remains valid but only the names of the States that belong to the relevant region will be counted. A ballot paper will be declared invalid if it contains more names of States from the relevant region than the number of seats assigned to it. Accordingly, for the ballot papers marked “A” for African States, the total number of checked boxes and/ or handwritten names should not exceed five; for the ballot papers marked “B” for Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed four; for the ballot papers marked “C” for Eastern European States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two; for the ballot papers marked “D” for Latin American and Caribbean States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed three; and for the ballot papers marked “E” for Western European and other States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed four.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African States (5 seats) Number of ballot papers: 189 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 187 Required two-thirds majority: 125 Number of votes obtained: Kenya 184 Angola 183 Ethiopia 183 Mali 182 Egypt 178 Group B — Asian and Pacific States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 189 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 3 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Turkmenistan 181 Islamic Republic of Iran 175 Pakistan 175 Saudi Arabia 170 Group C — Eastern European States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 189 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 3 Number of members present and voting: 186 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Armenia 177 Ukraine 176 Georgia 1 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 189 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 4 Number of members present and voting: 185 Required two-thirds majority: 124 Number of votes obtained: Brazil 177 Jamaica 175 Paraguay 174 Costa Rica 1 Number of ballot papers: 189 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 189 Abstentions: 9 Number of members voting: 180 Required two-thirds majority: 120 Number of votes obtained: Canada 174 Luxembourg 174 Netherlands 169 United States of America 159

I congratulate the States that have been elected members of the Economic and Social Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance. The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 113.