Spain Elected UN Security Council Non-permanent Member

Tangier – The United Nations on Thursday elected Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela for non-permanent seats on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on January 1, 2015.

While Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Venezuela were elected at the first round, the General Assembly had to go for two more rounds to choose the remaining seat. Spain and Turkey were the two candidates competing for the second seat allocated to group of Western European and Other States Group.

At the third round of vote, Spain obtained 133 votes, while Turkey obtained 60 votes. For any country to be elected to the Security Council, it needs to receive the votes of two-thirds of the 193 members of the General Assembly, which are 129 votes.

Election to the Security Council is made through secret ballot.

The new members will join Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria, whose terms end on 31 December 2015, in addition to the veto-wielding five permanent Council members, which are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.