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1988 United Nations Security Council election

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1988 United Nations Security Council election

← 1987 26 October 1988 1989 →

5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council


Members before election

 Zambia (Africa)
 Japan (Asia)
 Argentina (LatAm&Car)
 Italy (WEOG)
 West Germany (WEOG)

New Members





Unsuccessful candidates
 Bangladesh (Asian Group)
 Greece (WEOG)

The 1988 United Nations Security Council election was held on 26 October 1988 during the Forty-third session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The General Assembly elected Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, Finland, and Malaysia, as the five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 1989.

Rules

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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.

Result

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Voting was conducted on a single ballot. Ballots containing more states from a certain region than seats allocated to that region were invalidated. Following the first round, the representatives of Bangladesh withdrew their candidacy.

Member Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
 Colombia 154
 Ethiopia 144
 Canada 127
 Malaysia 104 143
 Finland 100 99 110
 Greece 77 56 47
 Bangladesh 55 5
 Somalia 3
 Cuba 2
 Bahamas 1
 Mauritius 1
 Sudan 1
abstentions 0 0 0
invalid ballots 0 0 1
required majority 105 106 105
ballot papers 157 158 158

See also

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References

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  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.
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  • UN Document A/43/PV.37 Official record of General Assembly meeting, 26 October 1988
  • UN Document A/59/881 Note Verbale from the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica containing a record of Security Council elections up to 2004