S/PV.6381 Security Council

The names of the delegations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lebanon have been drawn. I request them to appoint one of their members to serve as tellers.

The voting will be held by secret ballot. When we proceed to the vote, members of the Council will receive a ballot paper containing the name of the candidate. Members of the Council will be requested to place an “X” in the box 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. I should like to remind members of paragraph 14 of the Secretary-General’s memorandum (S/2010/442), which specifies that each elector may vote for only one candidate. Any ballot paper containing votes for more than one name will be considered invalid. When a candidate has obtained the required majority of eight or more votes, 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. May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of a member of the International Court of Justice? It is so decided. 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. * * *

All the ballot papers have been collected. The tellers will now count the ballots. There will be two independent countings of the ballots, one by each teller. I propose, with the consent of the Council, to suspend this meeting until the ballots are counted. There being no objection, it is so decided.

The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: 15 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of abstentions: 0 Number of valid ballots: 15 Required majority: 8 Number of votes obtained: Joan E. Donoghue (United States of America) 15 Accordingly, candidate Joan E. Donoghue has obtained the required majority of votes in the Security Council. I shall now send a letter to the President of the General Assembly informing him of the result of the voting in the Security Council. I request the Council to remain in session while we wait for the President of the General Assembly to inform the Council of the result of the voting in the Assembly. * * *

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 118th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, held today for the purpose of electing a member of the International Court of Justice, Ms. Joan Donaghue obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly.” As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on the same candidate, Joan E. Donaghue has been elected as a member of the International Court of Justice for the remainder of the term of office of Judge Thomas Buergenthal, that is, until 5 February 2015. I should like to congratulate her and wish her every success in the high office to which she 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.