A/73/PV.19 General Assembly

The positions of delegations regarding the recommendation of the Fifth Committee in its report (A/73/421) have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. Therefore, if there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, may I take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the report of the Fifth Committee that is before the Assembly today?

Before we begin to take action on the recommendation contained in the report of the Fifth Committee, I would like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take a decision in the same manner as was done in the Fifth Committee. The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 6 of its report. The Fifth Committee adopted the draft resolution, entitled “Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations: requests under Article 19 of the Charter”, without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 140.

The General Assembly will now proceed with the election of 18 members of the Human Rights Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2018. The 18 outgoing members are the following: Belgium, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In accordance with paragraph 7 of 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, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Germany, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The 18 vacant seats should be distributed among the regional groups as follows: five seats for the African States; five seats for the Asia-Pacific States; two seats for the Eastern European States; three seats for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and three 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: Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Croatia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 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: Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Germany, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly on elections. For this election, rules 92 and 94 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly shall be applied. Consistent with the practice of the General Assembly, if more than the required number of Member States has 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 elected, up to the number of seats to be filled. Also, consistent with past practice, when, in the case of a tied vote, it becomes necessary to determine the 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?

Regarding the candidatures of the respective regional Groups, the Secretariat has been informed that, for the five vacant seats for African States, the Group has endorsed five candidates: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Somalia and Togo. For the five vacant seats for Asia-Pacific States, the Secretariat has received communications from five candidates: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Fiji, India and the Philippines. For the two vacant seats for Eastern European States, the Secretariat has received communications from two candidates: Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. For the three vacant seats for Latin American and Caribbean States, the Secretariat has received communications from three candidates: Argentina, the Bahamas and Uruguay. For the three vacant seats for Western European and other States, the Secretariat has received communications from three candidates: Austria, Denmark and Italy. I have been informed by the Secretariat that voluntary pledges and commitments made by Member States, in accordance with paragraph 8 of resolution 60/251, were accordingly issued as official documents of the seventy-third session. 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 nameplate. 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 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 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. A ballot will also be declared invalid if all the votes on that ballot do not belong to the relevant region. Accordingly, for the ballot paper marked “A”, for African States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed five candidates; for the ballot paper marked “B”, for Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed five 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 three 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 (5 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 1 Number of members voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Burkina Faso 183 Togo 181 Cameroon 176 Somalia 170 Eritrea 160 Group B — Asia-Pacific States (5 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 1 Number of members voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: India 188 Fiji 187 Bangladesh 178 Bahrain 165 Philippines 165 Group C — Eastern European States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 5 Number of members voting: 188 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Bulgaria 180 Czech Republic 178 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 4 Number of members voting: 189 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Bahamas 180 Uruguay 177 Argentina 172 Group E  — Western European and other States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 193 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 193 Abstentions: 4 Number of members voting: 189 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Italy 180 Austria 171 Denmark 167 United States of America 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 Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (d) of agenda item 116. Announcement by the President

I wish to make an announcement concerning the membership of the General Committee of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly. Members will recall that for the seventy-third session, the President, the twenty-one Vice-Presidents and the Chairs of the six Main Committees were elected on 5 June 2018. Subsequently, I would like to inform Members that on 4 October 2018, His Excellency Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah (Liberia) was elected Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) at its seventy-third session and is accordingly a member of the General Committee for the session. I congratulate the Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) on his election.