NEW NON-PERMANENT MEMBERS ELECTED INTO UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia have been elected non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday for a two-year term.

The newly elected members will take up their new responsibilities on January 1, 2025, and serve till Dec. 31, 2026.

Somalia received 179 votes, Pakistan 182, Panama 183, Greece 182 and Denmark 184, meeting the criterion of obtaining two-thirds of the votes to replace Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.

 The five candidates were running unopposed.

The newly elected members will replace the outgoing non-permanent members of Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland.

A candidate must obtain the support of two-thirds of the UN member states present and voting at the General Assembly session in order to secure a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, regardless of whether the candidacy is contested or not.

This means that a minimum of 129 positive votes are required to win a seat if all 193 member states are present and voting. Member states that abstain are considered not voting.

In Thursday’s voting, Panama won 183 votes, one vote shy of unanimous support of all member states that were present and voting, according to results announced by Dennis Francis, the current General Assembly president, who presided over the voting process.
The other four countries also won easily.

All the five newly elected members have previously served on the Security Council.

Pakistan had served seven times, Panama five times, Denmark four times, Greece twice, and Somalia once.

The Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent ones, Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States. The 10 non-permanent seats of the council are allocated by geographic region, with five replaced each year.