The United Nations General Assembly is meeting today to elect five non-permanent members to the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2013.
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At UN Headquarters in New York, the 193-member Assembly will conduct the election by secret ballot, with winning candidates needing two thirds of those countries present and voting. Balloting will continue until enough candidates reach that threshold, even if only one country is competing for a seat in a particular region.
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Bhutan, Cambodia and the Republic of Korea are vying for the one seat for the Asian group, while Australia, Finland and Luxembourg are competing for two seats available for the Western European and Others category.
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Rwanda is the sole candidate for one seat for the African group and Argentina for one seat for the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
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The new members will replace Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa, whose terms end on 31 December 2012.
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The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Non-permanent members Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo will remain on the Council until the end of 2013.
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It would be recalled that Nigeria was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in October 2009.
