S/PV.10040 Security Council

In accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Council will now hold a second meeting and will proceed to a third ballot to elect a member of the International Court of Justice. May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of a member of the International Court of Justice?

I am informed that the General Assembly will be ready to proceed with the voting process shortly. I ask the members to wait until the Assembly is ready. * * *

I have been informed by the President of the General Assembly of the withdrawal of the candidature of Mr. Taoheed Olufemi Elias. Therefore, Mr. Taoheed Olufemi Elias is no longer a candidate in this election, and his name will not appear on the ballot paper. I am informed that the General Assembly will be ready to proceed with the voting process shortly. I ask the members to wait until the Assembly is ready. * * *

I am informed that the General Assembly is now ready to proceed with the voting process. I request the Conference Officer to distribute the ballot papers. Members of the Council should place an “X” in the box next to the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote. Members wishing to abstain should leave all boxes blank. I take it that all members of the Council have now voted. I ask the Conference Officer to collect the ballot papers. * * *

All the ballot papers have been collected. I should like to remind Council members that, in accordance with the established practice, the votes will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have been collected. The Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information.

I have now been informed that the ballot papers have been collected in the General Assembly. The tellers will now begin the counting of the votes in the Security Council. As per practice, there will be two independent counts of the ballots, one by each teller. I should like to remind Council members that, in accordance with established practice, I shall wait for the General Assembly to complete its count before I announce the result of the voting in the Security Council. The Council will remain in session. * * *

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 15 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 15 Number of abstentions: 0 Required majority: 8 Number of votes obtained: Mr. Charles Chernor Jalloh 7 Ms. Phoebe Okowa 8 Accordingly, the candidate Ms. Phoebe Okowa received the required majority of votes in the Security Council. I have communicated the result of the voting to the President of the General Assembly in writing. I should like to inform the members of the Council that I have received from the President of the General Assembly the following letter: “I have the honour to inform you that, at the 37th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, held today for the purpose of electing a member of the International Court of Justice, the following candidate obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly: Phoebe Okowa (Kenya)”. As the candidate Ms. Phoebe Okowa received the required majority both in the Security Council and in the General Assembly, she is duly elected as a member of the International Court of Justice for a term beginning today, 12 November 2025, until 5 February 2027. I should like to congratulate her and wish her every success in the high office to which she has been elected. On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank the tellers for their assistance in the conduct of the elections. The Security Council has thus concluded its consideration of the item on its agenda.