Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia Win UN Security Council Seats

Italy and the Netherlands squared off for a UN Security Council seat after Kazakhstan was elected to the powerful council for the first time and Bolivia, Ethiopia and Sweden won spots.

Thailand is now the head of the Group of 77, the 134-member group of developing countries, but this failed to give it the needed two-thirds votes in the first round.

The compromise to share the seat was symbolic as a “message of unity between two European countries”, said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Kazakhstan beat Thailand with 138 votes in favour in the second round of voting.

Likewise, Ethiopia is the only candidate for Africa and will take over on January 1, 2017, the seat Angola holds for the 2015-2016 term. That’s because much of the Security Council work is done by consensus-that is, all 15 members must agree for certain actions to be taken.

The Netherlands and Italy failed during three rounds to pick up the required majority and a new vote for the second seat reserved to Western Europe was scheduled for 1900 GMT.

The other five non-permanent members are: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

Germany’s foreign minister says his country will seek a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2019 and 2020, the Associated Press reports.

Italy was lobbying fiercely for a council seat, portraying itself as a crossroads country in the Mediterranean and touting its experience dealing with the refugee crisis.

This year, five seats, based on regional rotations, were available.

The Netherlands, home to the International Criminal Court and other world tribunals, has played up its commitment to international justice. Likewise, Bolivia is the only candidate for the Latin America seat.

As reported, big races can be seen between Kazakhstan and Thailand that are in competition for one of the open Asian seats; and Sweden, Italy and the Netherland, which are vying for two European seats.

The decision on non-permanent members of the council in 2019-2020 is set to be made in mid-2018, and German diplomats will now set about gathering support for their application.

The elections for the non-permanent members to the Security Council are scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters in NY.