S/PV.6651 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. I request the Conference Officer to distribute the ballot papers. Members of the Council should 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 and 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 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. 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. 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 results 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. Giorgio Gaja 13 Ms. Tsvetana Kamenova 4 Mr. Abdul G. Koroma 10 Mr. Hisashi Owada 14 Ms. Julia Sebutinde 5 Mr. El Hadji Mansour Tall 1 Mr. Peter Tomka 13 Ms. Xue Hanqin 15 Accordingly, the following candidates received the required majority of votes in the Security Council: Ms. Xue Hanqin, Mr. Hisashi Owada, Mr. Giorgio Gaja, Mr. Peter Tomka and Mr. Abdul G. Koroma. I have communicated the result of the voting to the President of the General Assembly in writing. I wish to inform members of the Council that I have received the following letter from the President of the General Assembly: “I have the honour to inform you that, at the 53rd plenary meeting of the General Assembly, held today for the purpose of electing five members of the International Court of Justice, the following candidates obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly: Mr. Giorgio Gaja, Mr. Hisashi Owada, Ms. Julia Sebutinde, Mr. Peter Tomka and Ms. Hanqin Xue.” As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on four candidates, the jurists Mr. Giorgio Gaja, Ms. Xue Hanqin, Mr. Hisashi Owada and Mr. Peter Tomka have been elected to the International Court of Justice for a period of nine years, beginning on 6 February 2012. 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.