UN Security Council elects 5 new non-permanent members

Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea will become new members of the 15-member UN body responsible for maintaining international peace and security. They will replace Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose terms are due to expire.

The United Nations Security Council elected five new non-permanent members. — A delegate votes to elect five new non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Photo: UN

The Security Council is the only body of the United Nations that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing the use of force. It has five permanent members with veto power: the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and the United States.

To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. However, a candidate country still needs to win the support of more than two-thirds of the votes in the General Assembly to be elected.

In the latest election, 192 countries voted to fill three seats on the Security Council allocated to the African Group and the Asia-Pacific Group, and one seat each to the Eastern European Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Group.

As a result, Guyana got 191 votes, Sierra Leone - 188, Algeria -184 and South Korea - 180 votes. Slovenia won 153 votes to surpass Belarus (38 votes) for the race for the position of the Eastern European region.

Besides the five permanent members and five newly elected members, the remaining members of the United Nations Security Council are Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.

Bui Huy (according to UN, Reuters)

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