1982 United Nations Security Council election

1982 United Nations Security Council election
← 1981 19 October 1982 1983 →
5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council
Members before election

 Uganda (Africa)
 Japan (Asia)
 Panama (LatAm&Car)
 Ireland (WEOG)
 Spain (WEOG)

 New Members





Unsuccessful candidates
 Dominican Republic (GRULAC)
 New Zealand (WEOG)

The 1982 United Nations Security Council election was held on 19 October 1982 during the Thirty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The General Assembly elected Malta, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe, as the five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 1983. Both Malta and Zimbabwe were elected members of the Council for the first time.

Rules

See also: United Nations Security Council

The Security Council has 15 seats, filled by five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Each year, half of the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms.[1][2] A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.[3]

In accordance with the rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes,[4] the five available seats are allocated as follows:

To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.

Endorsed candidates

Portugal, speaking on behalf of the Western European and Others Group informed the assembly that Malta, the Netherlands, and New Zealand were candidates for the two seats attributed to this group, without endorsing any of them. The Asian Group communicated its endorsement in writing. Prior to the voting, a letter from the Group's chairman endorsing Pakistan was read out by the President of the Assembly. The Latin American and Caribbean, and African Groups did not endorse candidates.[6]

Result

Round 1

The first round of voting was conducted on a single ballot. Ballots containing more states from a certain region than seats allocated to that region were invalidated.

Member Round 1
 Zimbabwe 138
 Pakistan 127
 Netherlands 100
 Malta 94
 Nicaragua 92
 New Zealand 77
 Dominican Republic 59
 Sri Lanka 6
 Barbados 1
 Benin 1
 Cyprus 1
 Comoros 1
 People's Republic of the Congo 1
 Denmark 1
 Ghana 1
 India 1
 Senegal 1
abstentions 0
invalid ballots 0
required majority 102

Source:[6]

Subsequent rounds

Following the first round, voting for the two remaining geographic groups was conducted separately. By a drawing of lots, it was decided that the voting on the seat for the Latin American and Caribbean Group would be conducted first.[6]

GRULAC

Member Round 2 Round 3
 Nicaragua 99 104
 Dominican Republic 55 50
abstentions 1 1
invalid ballots 0 0
required majority 103 103

Source:[6]

WEOG

Member Round 2 Round 3
 Netherlands 103 –
 Malta 102 111
 New Zealand 66 43
abstentions 1 1
invalid ballots 0 0
required majority 103 103

Source:[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ United Nations Security Council (2008), Repertoire of the practice of the Security Council, United Nations Publications, p. 178, ISBN 9789211370300
  2. ^ Conforti, Benedetto (2005), The law and practice of the United Nations, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 61, ISBN 9004143092
  3. ^ Charter of the United Nations, Article 23
  4. ^ Resolution 1991 A (XVIII), dated 1963-12-17, in force 1965-08-31.
  5. ^ "Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group", Radio New Zealand International, 2011-08-31.
  6. ^ a b c d e U.N. General Assembly, 37th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Thirty-sixth Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Tuesday, 19 October 1982. (A/37/PV.36) 19 October 1982
  • UN Document A/59/881 Note Verbale from the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica containing a record of Security Council elections up to 2004