S/PV.6011 Security Council

May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of five members of the International Court of Justice? It is so decided. We will now take a brief pause to inform the President of the General Assembly that the Council is ready to vote. * * *

I have been told that in the General Assembly ballot papers have already been distributed. I request the conference officer to distribute ballot papers in the Security Council. I remind members to place an “X” in the boxes next to the names of the five candidates for whom they wish to vote. * * *

I take it that all the 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 the Council that, in accordance with the established practice, the ballots will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have also 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. I would like to remind Council members that, in accordance with the established practice, I must wait for the counting to be finished in the General Assembly before I announce the results of the voting in the Security Council. The tellers will be counting the ballots. As agreed in our consultations, there will be two independent countings of the ballots. I understand as well that the President of the General Assembly has proposed that the Assembly suspend its meeting until 11.30 a.m., when it will resume. I propose that, with the consent of the members of the Council, we do the same, and that we return here in 45 minutes, at 11.30 a.m. There being no objection, it is so decided.

Given that the procedure that governs the election presumes that the results of the votes will be announced in the General Assembly and in the Security Council at the same time, we are waiting for the Assembly to confirm to us that they are also ready to read out the results. It is a matter of just one or two minutes, and I would ask members to be patient. * * *

I wish to inform the Council that five candidates obtained an absolute majority in its first vote. The result of the voting in the Security Council 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. Ronny Abraham 13 Mr. Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh 13 Mr. Sayeman Bula-Bula 1 Mr. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade 14 Ms. Miriam Defensor-Santiago 5 Mr. Christopher Greenwood 15 Mr. Maurice Kamto 6 Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf 8 Accordingly, the five candidates who obtained the required majority of votes in the Security Council are Mr. Ronny Abraham, Mr. Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, Mr. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Mr. Christopher Greenwood and Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf. I have communicated the result of the voting to the President of the General Assembly in writing. I wish to inform the Council that I have just received from the President of the General Assembly the following letter: “I am writing to inform you that at the 39th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, which was held today for the purpose of electing five members of the International Court of Justice, the following five candidates received an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly: Mr. Ronny Abraham, Mr. Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, Mr. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Ms. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Mr. Christopher Greenwood.” As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on four candidates, the jurists Mr. Ronny Abraham, Mr. Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, Mr. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade and Mr. Christopher Greenwood have been elected to the International Court of Justice for a period of nine years, beginning on 6 February 2009. I should like to congratulate them warmly and to wish them every success in the high office to which they have been elected. As a result of the voting that has taken place in the Security Council and in the General Assembly, four members of the Court have been duly elected. In accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, the Council will now proceed to hold a second meeting to elect a candidate by further ballots for the seat remaining to be filled. Accordingly, I shall adjourn this meeting, and call to order the second meeting to elect a candidate by further ballot, after a brief recess to allow for the preparation of new ballots.