Research Report

Posted 24 April 2017
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Security Council Elections 2017

 

To view the full report, please download the PDF here.

The 71st session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections for the Security Council on 2 June. The five seats available for election in 2017 according to the regular distribution among regions will be as follows:

  • two seats for the African Group (currently held by Egypt and Senegal);
  • one seat for the Group of Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States (the Asia-Pacific Group, currently held by Japan);
  • one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC, currently held by Uruguay); and
  • one seat for the Eastern European Group (currently held by Ukraine).

The five new members elected this year will take up their seats on 1 January 2018 and will serve through to 31 December 2019.

In addition, Italy is committed to relinquishing the seat it has held since 1 January 2017 after serving for one year, and a by-election will thus be held for one seat for the Western European and Others Group (WEOG). Two WEOG seats are usually up for election in even numbered years, but this year’s by-election will be held because Italy and the Netherlands agreed to split the 2017-2018 term. The new member from WEOG will serve a one-year term from 1 January to 31 December 2018, completing the 2017-2018 term.

At press time, all six candidates—Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Peru and Poland—are currently running unopposed as sole candidates for their respective regional groups.

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