In accordance with the General Assembly's rules for the geographic distribution of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, and established practice, the members were to be elected as follows: two from Africa, one from Asia, one from Latin American and the Caribbean Group (GRULAC), and one from the Eastern European Group.
Candidates
There was a total of seven candidates for the five seats. In the African and Asian Groups, there were three candidates for the three seats: Cameroon, Guinea, and Syria. In the Eastern European Group, Belarus and Bulgaria competed for the one available seat. From the GRULAC states, the Dominican Republic and Mexico competed for the one available seat.
Results
Voting proceeded by secret ballot. For each geographic group, each member state could vote for as many candidates as were to be elected. There were 178 ballots in each of the three elections.
Group A — African and Asian States (three to be elected)
Guinea 173
Cameroon 172
Syria 160
invalid 1
Group B — Latin American and Caribbean States (one to be elected)
Group C — Eastern European Group (one to be elected)
Bulgaria 120
Belarus 53
With Bulgaria winning over Belarus, and Mexico overcoming the Dominican Republic in the second round, the final result was as follows: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Guinea, Mexico, and Syria were elected to the Security Council for two-year terms commencing 1 January 2002.
