Security Council Elections 2014
This is Security Council Report’s annual Special Research Report on Security Council Elections. To view the full report, please download the PDF here.
Executive Summary
On 16 October, the General Assembly is expected to hold elections for five members of the Security Council. The new members will take up their seats on 1 January 2015 and will serve on the Council until 31 December 2016.
The five seats available for election in 2014 will be distributed regionally as follows:
- one seat for the African Group, currently held by Rwanda;
- one seat for the Group of Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States (Asia-Pacific Group), currently held by the Republic of Korea;
- one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC), currently held by Argentina; and
- two seats for the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), currently held by Australia and Luxembourg.
The Eastern Europen Group is not contesting any seat this year as its seat (held by Lithuania through 2015) is up for election every other year.
At press time, the election for the first three seats described above seemed to be headed for a “clean slate” with one candidate put forward by each regional group: respectively Angola, Malaysia and Venezuela. All three candidates have previously served on the Council: Venezuela on four previous occasions (1962–1963, 1977–1978, 1986–1987 and 1992-1993), Malaysia on three (1965, 1989–1990 and 1999–2000) and Angola once (2003–2004).
One race will likely be contested this year as three candidates, New Zealand, Spain and Turkey, are competing for the two WEOG seats. All candidates have served on the Council in the past: New Zealand on three occasions (1954–1955, 1966 and 1993–1994); Spain on four (1969–1970, 1981–1982, 1993–1994 and 2003–2004) and Turkey also on four (1951–1952, 1954–1955, 1961 and 2009–2010).
The table below shows the number of seats available per region in the 2014 election, the declared candidates and their prior terms on the Council.
| Region | Seats Available | States Running and Previous Terms on the Council |
| Africa | 1 | Angola (2003-2004) |
| Asia-Pacific | 1 | Malaysia (1965, 1989-1990, 1999-2000) |
|
Latin American and Carribean |
1 | Venezuela (1962–1963, 1977–1978, 1986–1987, 1992–1993) |
| Western Europe and Other | 2 |
New Zealand (1954–1955, 1966, 1993–1994), Spain (1969–1970, 1981–1982, 1993–1994, 2003–2004) and Turkey (1951–1952, 1954–1955, 1961, 2009–2010)
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