S Korea, 4 others elected non-permanent members of UN Security Council

South Korea, Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia were elected non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a two-year term.

The newly elected members will take up their new responsibilities on January 1, 2024, and serve till December 31, 2025, Xinhua news agency reported.

South Korea, Algeria, Guyana, and Sierra Leone were running unopposed on Tuesday. Slovenia and Belarus contended the one seat for Eastern Europe.

The five newly elected members will replace the outgoing non-permanent members of Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates.

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 Tuesday's voting, Guyana won the support of all member states that were present and voting, with 191 votes. Sierra Leone won 188 votes, Algeria won 184 votes, and the Republic of Korea won 180 votes, according to results announced by Csaba Korosi, the current General Assembly president, who presided over the voting process.

Slovenia won outright in the first round with 153 votes, compared with 38 votes for rival Belarus.

All the five newly elected members have previously served on the Security Council. Algeria has served three times. Guyana and the Republic of Korea have each served twice. Sierra Leone and Slovenia have each served 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.

The five newly elected countries represent Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Eastern European group. The group of Western Europe and other states is not contesting any seats this year, as its two seats, currently held by Malta and Switzerland through 2024, come up for election every other year.

The Security Council is considered the most powerful body of the United Nations. The council, which is tasked to maintain international peace and security, can make legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorise the use of force against states.

--IANS

int/sha