S/PV.7313 Security Council

In accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Security Council will now proceed to hold this ninth meeting to elect a member of the International Court of Justice by further ballot for the one seat that remains to be filled. I should like to inform Council members that I have received a letter from Her Excellency Mrs. María Cristina Perceval, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations, dated 11 November 2014, communicating the decision to withdraw the nomination of Ms. Susana Ruiz Cerutti for election to the International Court of Justice. I have also received a letter from the Legal Counsel dated 14 November 2014, informing me on behalf of the Secretary-General that the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations communicated to the Legal Counsel that the decision to withdraw Ms. Cerutti’s candidacy was conveyed to the national groups that nominated this candidate through the respective Missions, and no objections were received. Accordingly, her name is not included on the ballot papers. May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of the one remaining member of the International Court of Justice? It is so decided. The Council will now proceed to a new ballot. 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 one 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 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. * * *

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. Patrick Lipton Robinson 15 Mr. Patrick Lipton Robinson has accordingly received the required majority of votes in the Security Council. I have communicated the result of the vote to the President of the General Assembly in writing. 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 53rd plenary meeting of the General Assembly, held today for the purpose of electing the one remaining member of the International Court of Justice, Mr. Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica) obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly.” Accordingly, the same candidate has received the required absolute majority of votes in the Council and in the General Assembly. As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on the same candidates, the jurists Mr. Mohamed Bennouna, Mr. James Richard Crawford, Ms. Joan E. Donoghue, Mr. Kirill Gevorgian and Mr. Patrick Lipton Robinson have been elected to the International Court of Justice for a term of office of nine years, beginning on 6 February 2015. I should like to congratulate them and wish them every success in the high office to which they have been elected. On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank the tellers for their assistance in the conduct of the elections. I would also like to thank all Council members for the constructive manner in which they have engaged in this election process. I should like to reiterate the comments I made in the closed consultations of the Council last week in respect of the very positive and commendable action on the part of Argentina in such a unique set of circumstances. The Security Council has thus concluded its consideration of the item on its agenda.