18th June, 2020
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday elected four new non-permanent members into the Security Council for a two-year term beginning on Jan. 1, 2021.
India and Mexico clinched the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean seats in the powerful council.
Ireland and Norway each won a seat to represent the “Western European and others” group, beating Canada, the third contestant.
However, the election into the vacant African seat on the council was inconclusive.
This was because neither of the two contestants, Kenya and Djibouti, secured the required two-thirds majority votes of 128 to clinch the coveted seat.
While Kenya secured 113 out of the total 192 valid votes cast, Djibouti polled 78 votes.
President of the United Nations General Assembly, Amb. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, who announced the results, said another round of election would be held for both countries on Thursday.
Wednesday also saw the election of 18 new members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOC), which addresses economic, environmental and human rights issues.
They are Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Solomon Islands, United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.