UN elects new Security Council members; Israel plans to run for 2018-2019

Israel is one of the 67 UN Member States that have never been members of the Security Council.

By DANIELLE ZIRI
Updated: JUNE 29, 2016 01:19
THE UNITED Nations General Assembly. (photo credit: REUTERS)
THE UNITED Nations General Assembly.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
NEW YORK – The UN General Assembly has elected Ethiopia, Bolivia, Sweden, and Kazakhstan to be non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for the 2017-2018 term.
Sources familiar with the Security Council election process told the Post that Israel has already submitted its candidacy for the 2018-2019 term within the Western European and Others regional group to which it belongs.
Israel is one of the 67 UN Member States that have never been members of the Security Council.
Ethiopia, Bolivia and Sweden were elected with a majority of votes in the first round; Kazakhstan, which was competing against Thailand, was given a seat after a second round of votes. A fifth non-permanent member was elected After multiple rounds of inconclusive voting Italy and Netherlands decided to split the seat.
Tuesday’s election aimed to replace Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela, which will be vacating their seats at the end of 2016. The five new Security Council members will begin their terms on January 1.
The rest of the current non-permanent members – Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay – will be replaced at the end of 2017.
The election was particularly joyful for Kazakhstan, which had never been elected to the Security Council, unlike the four other countries chosen. The Kazak representatives cheered and shook hands with other delegation members, who congratulated them as General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft read out the result.
One of the Kazakh representatives broke out in tears.
The council is composed of 15 Members. Five of them – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – are permanent, and hold veto power. The 10 remaining members are non-permanent and elected for two-year terms.
These non-permanent seats are allocated by regional groups. The 10 states have to include five African and Asian States; one Eastern European state; two Latin American states; and two from the Western European and Others group. All 193 member states of the United Nations are eligible for the seats, but candidacies are submitted by the regional groups.