S/PV.3493 Security Council

I should like to recall that at its 3443rd meeting, on 21 October 1994, the Security Council adopted resolution 951 (1994), in which it decided that the election to fill the vacancy in the International Court of Justice should take place on 26 January 1995 at a meeting of the Security Council and at a meeting of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. 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 and received by the Secretary-General as of 10 January 1995, the deadline for receipt of nominations, is contained in document S/1995/34 and Addendum 1. Furthermore, document S/1995/74 contains the list of candidates nominated by national groups and received by the Secretary-General after 10 January 1995. Document S/1995/35 contains the curriculum vitae of the nominated candidate. The Security Council also has before it a memorandum by the Secretary-General in document S/1995/33, describing the present composition of the Court and setting out the procedure to be followed in the conduct of the election. I should like to remind the Council that under Article 10, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, “Those candidates who obtain an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly and in the Security Council shall be considered as elected.” The required majority in the Security Council is eight votes. Article 15 of the Statute of the Court provides that Accordingly, the member elected to fill the remainder of the term left vacant by the death of Judge Nikolai Konstantinovitch Tarassov will serve until 5 February 1997. The voting will be by secret ballot. When we proceed to the vote, members of the Council will receive a ballot paper containing the names of the candidates. Members of the Council are requested to place an “X” next to the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote. Votes may be cast only for a candidate whose name appears on the ballot paper and each elector may vote for only one candidate; otherwise the ballot will be considered invalid. When a candidate has obtained the required majority, I shall notify the President of the General Assembly of the name of that candidate, 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. I shall now draw lots to select two delegations to serve as tellers. * * *

Nigeria and the United States have been drawn. I therefore request each of them to appoint one member of its delegation to serve as teller.

May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Nikolai Konstantinovitch Tarassov? I would ask 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.

I take it that all the members of the Council have now voted, and I ask the Conference Officer to collect the ballot papers. 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 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. As agreed in our consultations, there will be two independent countings of the ballots, one by each teller. * * *

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 15 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 15 Required majority: 8 Number of votes obtained: Mr. Vladlen S. Vereshchetin (Russian Federation) 15 * * *

I should like to inform the members of the Council that I have just received from the President of the General Assembly the following letter: “I have the honour to inform you that at the 96th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, held today for the purpose of electing one member of the International Court of Justice, the following candidate obtained an absolute majority of the votes in the General Assembly: Mr. Vladlen S. Vereshchetin”. As the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on the same candidate, the distinguished jurist Mr. Vladlen S. Vereshchetin of the Russian Federation has been elected a member of the International Court of Justice for a term of office expiring on 5 February 1997. I should like to congratulate Mr. Vereshchetin and to wish him every success in the high office to which he has been elected. I should also like to thank the tellers for their assistance. The Security Council has thus concluded its business for this meeting.