United Nations Security Council election, 2013

United Nations Security Council election, 2013

17 October and 6 December 2013

5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council

United Nations Security Council membership after the elections

Elected Members before election  Morocco (Africa, Arab)  Togo (Africa)  Guatemala (LatAm&Car)  Pakistan (Asia)  Azerbaijan (E. Europe) New Elected Members  Chad (Africa)  Nigeria (Africa)  Chile (LatAm&Car)  Jordan (Asia, Arab)  Lithuania (E. Europe)

The 2013 United Nations Security Council election was held on 17 October 2013^[1] during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The Assembly elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia for five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2014.^[2] The following day, Saudi Arabia announced that it was declining the seat, accusing UNSC of using "double standards" and being unable to resolve important issues in the Middle East.^[3] A second round of voting took place on 6 December,^[4] in which Jordan was elected to the Council.

Rules

The Security Council has 15 seats, filled by five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Each year, half of the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms.^[5][6] A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.^[7]

In accordance with the rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes,^[8] the five available seats are allocated as follows:

• Two for African countries (held by Morocco and Togo)
• One for countries from the Asia-Pacific Group (previously called the Asian Group^[9]), for the "Arab swing seat"^{[nb 1]} (held by Pakistan)
• One for Latin America and the Caribbean (held by Guatemala)
• One for the Eastern European Group (held by Lithuania)

To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.

The five members are expected to serve on the Security Council for the 2014–15 period.

Candidates

African Group

 Chad^[11][12]
 Nigeria^[11][12]
 Gambia^[12] — Withdrew^[13]

Latin American and Caribbean Group

 Chile^[11][12][14]

Asia-Pacific group

An Arab state is due to take a seat on account of the custom of rotation of the unofficial "Arab seat" between the Arab states belonging to the African and Asian groups and the expiry of the term of the previous Arab member, Morocco, whose term expires in 2013.

 Saudi Arabia^[11][12][15]
 Jordan — Declared candidacy after Saudi Arabia declined its election to the Council^[4]

Eastern European group

 Georgia^[11] — Withdrew on 30 April 2013 for diplomatic and financial reasons^[16]
 Lithuania^[11][12][17]

Results

There were 191 secret ballots cast in each segment of the vote.^[18]

African and Asia-Pacific Groups

Day 1

African and Asia-Pacific Groups election results[18]
Member	Round 1
Nigeria	186
Chad	184
Saudi Arabia	176
Gambia	2
Senegal	2
Lebanon	1
abstentions	0
required majority	128

Rejection

Following the vote, Saudi Arabia, despite winning, declined to take the seat citing the UNSC's "double standards" in being allegedly ineffective in regards to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, nuclear disarmament in the Middle East and putting an end to the Syrian civil war.^[3][19] This was the first time a state had rejected a Security Council seat.^[20] Saudi Arabia's refusal of the seat surprised both United Nations diplomats and some observers inside the country, where the announcement of the election had been received favorably.^[20] The Gulf Cooperation Council supported Saudi Arabia's bid.^[21] In addition, Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan suggested a distancing of Saudi Arabia–United States relations as a result of the same issue over the Syrian civil war, amongst other reasons.^[22] On 12 November, Saudi Arabia formally declined the seat, advising the Secretary-General that it "would not be in a position to take the seat on the Security Council to which it was elected."^[23]

Day 2

A second vote was held on 6 December to fill the vacancy created by the rejection of Saudi Arabia to take the seat it was elected to. Prior to the vote, the General Assembly honoured Nelson Mandela, who had died the previous day. There were 185 ballot papers.^[24]

African and Asia-Pacific Groups election results[24]
Member	Round 1
Jordan	178
Saudi Arabia	1
invalid ballots	2
abstentions	4
required majority	120

Latin American and Caribbean Group

Latin American and Caribbean Group election results[18]
Member	Round 1
Chile	186
abstentions	5
required majority	124

Eastern European Group

Eastern European Group election results[18]
Member	Round 1
Lithuania	187
Croatia	1
abstentions	2
invalid votes	1
required majority	126

See also

• List of members of the United Nations Security Council
• European Union and the United Nations

Notes

References

United Nations Security Council elections 1940s 1946 (Jan) 1946 (Nov) 1947 1948 1949 1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020s 2020 2021 2022 General Assembly UNSC (Members Reform) Regional Groups (EEG GRULAC WEOG)