UNGA Press Release (October 17, 2007)

16 October 2007

General Assembly GA/10637

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Sixty-second General Assembly

Plenary

26^th Meeting (AM)

General Assembly elects Burkina faso, costa rica, croatia, libya, viet nam

To two-year terms on Security Council

In three rounds of voting, the General Assembly today elected Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Viet Nam to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years.

They will fill the seats that will be vacated by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar, and Slovakia on 31 December 2007. Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa will continue to serve as elected Council members during 2008, for the second year of their respective terms. All new Council members will take their seats on 1 January 2008.

The five non-permanent members were elected according to the following pattern: three from Africa and Asia, one from Eastern Europe, and one from Latin America and the Caribbean. The three new members from Africa and Asia were elected in the first round of voting.

After a second round of voting, the ballots for Eastern Europe were split between Croatia and the Czech Republic, and the ballots for Latin America and the Caribbean were split between Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Before the third round of voting, the representative of the Dominican Republic and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic withdrew their countries’ candidacies, thus paving the way for Croatia and Costa Rica to represent their respective regions.

After the voting, the President of the General Assembly, Srgjan Kerim of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, said this was a good day for the United Nations and the General Assembly, as the spirit of cooperation, goodwill and trust was on full display.

He also announced that the next meeting of the General Committee would take place on Friday, 19 October, to consider requests for additional agenda items, including financing of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad, observer status for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, the question of the Comorian island of Mayotte, and the items contained in documents A/62/233 and A/62/234, which have not yet been released.

Before closing today’s session, the President invited all Member States to attend the Stand Up Speak Out Event Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals 1 p.m. Wednesday, 17 October, at United Nations Headquarters, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The Assembly will reconvene on Thursday, 18 October, to hold a joint debate on development in Africa, including, among others, the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

First Round Voting Results

The results of the balloting were as follows:

African and Asian States
Number of ballot papers:	190
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid ballots:	190
Abstentions:	0
Required majority:	127
Number of votes obtained:
Burkina Faso	185
Libya	183
Viet Nam	178
Mauritania	2
Senegal	1
Eastern European States
Number of ballot papers:	190
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid ballots:	190
Abstentions:	4
Required majority:	124
Number of votes obtained:
Croatia	95
Czech Republic	91
Latin American and Caribbean States
Number of ballot papers:	190
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid ballots:	190
Abstentions:	2
Required majority:	126
Number of votes obtained:
Costa Rica	116
Dominican Republic	72

Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, Burkina Faso, Libya and Viet Nam were elected to the Security Council for two-year terms, beginning on 1 January 2008. With no country from Eastern Europe or Latin America having received the required majority, the Assembly held a second round of voting.

Second Round of Voting (First Restricted)

Eastern European States
Number of ballot papers:	191
Number of invalid ballots:	1
Number of valid ballots:	191
Abstentions:	3
Required majority:	125
Number of votes obtained:
Croatia	106
Czech Republic	81
Latin American and Caribbean States
Number of ballot papers:	191
Number of invalid ballots:	1
Number of valid ballots:	190
Abstentions:	1
Required majority:	126
Number of votes obtained:
Costa Rica	119
Dominican Republic	70

With no country from Eastern Europe or Latin America having received the required majority, the Assembly moved to a third round of voting.

Before the third round of voting, Enriquillo Del Rosario, ( Dominican Republic) took the floor to withdraw the country’s candidacy for membership on the Security Council. He added that his country expressed solidarity with Costa Rica, with all Latin American nations and with the world.

Tomáš Pojar, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic also withdrew the country’s candidacy and congratulated Croatia on its well-deserved seat.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Foreign Minister of Croatia, thanked Member States for their votes and the Czech Republic for withdrawing from the third round of voting.

Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, expressed thanks for the solidarity shown in the vote and, in particular, to the Dominican Republic for its withdrawal.

Third Round of Voting (Second Restricted)

Eastern European States
Number of ballot papers:	189
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid ballots:	189
Abstentions:	4
Required majority:	124
Number of votes obtained:
Croatia	184
Czech Republic	1
Latin American and Caribbean States
Number of ballot papers:	189
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid ballots:	189
Abstentions:	9
Required majority:	120
Number of votes obtained:
Costa Rica	179
Dominican Republic	1

Having obtained the required two-thirds majority, Croatia and Costa Rica were elected to the Security Council for two-year terms, beginning on 1 January 2007.

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