Bosnia, Lebanon to join Security Council
UNITED NATIONS - Bosnia and Lebanon won seats yesterday on the Security Council and will be in the rare position of being subject to scrutiny by the UN’s most powerful body while serving their two-year terms. Brazil, Nigeria, and Gabon also won easy election.
Unlike most previous Security Council elections, there were no contested seats this year.
As a result, the five countries nominated by regional groups won easy election on the first ballot in voting by the 192-member General Assembly.
Ali Treki, Assembly president, announced the results - 186 votes for Nigeria, 184 for Gabon, 183 for Bosnia, 182 for Brazil, and 180 for Lebanon - and declared the five countries elected to terms beginning Jan. 1 as diplomats burst into applause.
“It’s going to be an even stronger Security Council, I think, next year,’’ John Sawers, Britain’s UN ambassador, said after the vote. “We have two large countries in Brazil and Nigeria who carry the weight of being a regional power. We have two countries in Lebanon and Bosnia that have been through conflict and can bring their own national experiences to the Security Council.’’
Ten of the council’s 15 seats are filled by regional groups for two-year stretches, and five nonpermanent members are elected by the General Assembly every year.
To win, candidates must get a two-thirds majority of the assembly members voting by secret ballot.
The five other Security Council seats are occupied by veto-wielding permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France.
Bosnia has never served on the council and Lebanon has not been a member since 1953 to 1954.
