S/PV.2632 Security Council

1 Should like to recall tha at its 2604th meeting, on 12 September 1985, the Security Council adopted resolution 570 (1985) in which it decided that elections to fill the vacancy in a International Court of Justice should take place on 9 December 1985 at a meeting0 the Security Council and at a meeting of the, fortieth session of the General Assembly. This vacancy was caused by the resignation of Judge Platon Dimitrievich Morozov on 23 August 1985. This morning the Security Council and the General Assembly will proceed independently with the election, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Statute of the Court, for the purpose of filling this vacancy. The list of candidates nominated by national groups is contained in document S/17672. Document S/17673 contains the curriculum vitae of the candidate. The Security Council has before it also a memorandum by the Secretary-General' in document S/17621, describing the present composition of the Court and setting out the procedure to be followed in the conduct of the election. 1 should like to remind the Council that under Article 10, paragraph lof the Statute of the International Court of Justice "Those candidates who obtain an absolute majority of votes in the Genera; Assembly and in the Security Council shall be considered as elected"* The required majority in the Secur ity Council is therefore eight votes. (The President) Article 15 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides that "A member of the Court elected to replace a member whose term of office has not expired shall hold office for the remainder of his predecessor's term". Accordingly, the member elected to replace Judge Morozov will serve until 5 February 1988. The voting will be by secret ballot. When we proceed to the vote, members of the Council will receive a ballot containing the name of the candidate. Metiers of the Council casting a vote should place an "x" next to the name of the candidate. Votes may be cast only for the candidate whose name appears on the ballot paper* Otherwise, the ballot will be considered invalid. When the balloting is completed, I shall communicate the result to the President of the General Assembly , and I shall request the Council to remain in session pending the receipt from the President of the General Assembly of the result of the voting in the Assembly. The Council will now proceed to draw lots to select the two delegations to act as tellers. * * *

The names of the delegations of Madagascar and Thailand have been drawn, and I therefore request each of them to appoint one of its members to serve as teller. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Rakotondramboa (Madagascar) and Mrs. Laohaphan (Thailand) acted as tellers.

I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Morozov. It is so decided. I shall ask the Conference Officer to distribute the ballots. I would repeat that members casting a vote should place an "x" at the left of the name of the candidate.

I take it that all the members of the Council have now voted and 1 ask the Conference Officer to be good enough to collect the'ballots, (The President) * * * All the ballot papers have been collected. I should like to remind the Council that, as we agreed during our consultations, the ballots 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 counting of the ballots in the Security Council will now begin. The tellers will now count the ballots. There will be two independent countings of ballots by each of the tellers. * * *