United Nations Security Council election, 1997

The 1997 United Nations Security Council election was held on 14 October 1997 at United Nations Headquarters in New York City during the 52nd session of the United Nations General Assembly. The General Assembly elected five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year terms commencing on 1 January 1998.

The five candidates elected were Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia, and Slovenia.

Geographic distribution

In accordance with the General Assembly's rules for the geographic distribution of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, and established practice, the members were to be elected as follows: two from Africa, one from Asia, one from Latin American and the Caribbean Group (GRULAC), and one from the Eastern European Group.

Candidates

There was a total of six candidates for the five seats. The only seat contested was that of the Eastern European Group: The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia competed for the one available seat. The other groups all had a number of candidates equal to the number of seats to fill: Gabon and Gambia for the two African seats, Bahrain for the one Asian seat, and Brazil for the one GRULAC seat.

Results

Voting proceeded by secret ballot. For each geographic group, each member state could vote for as many candidates as were to be elected. There were 174 ballots in each of the three elections.

African and Asian States (three to be elected)

• Bahrain 172
• Gabon 171
• Gambia 169
• Zambia 1

Latin American and Caribbean States (one to be elected)

• Brazil 167
• Argentina 1
• abstentions 6

Eastern European Group (one to be elected)

• Slovenia 140
• The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 30
• abstentions 4

With Macedonia losing to Slovenia, and all the other candidates securing their respective majority supports of 2/3, the final result was as follows: Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia, and Slovenia were elected to serve two-year terms at the United Nations Security Council commencing 1 January 1998.

See also

• List of members of the United Nations Security Council

References

• UN Document GA/9329 press release