2006 International Criminal Court judges election

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An ordinary election for six judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the resumption of the 4th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in New York on 26 January 2006. [1]

Contents

Background

The judges elected at this election were to take office on 11 March 2006. All six judges elected for a three-year term in 2003 were eligible for re-election, all of them ran.

The election was governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Its article 36(8)(a) states that "[t]he States Parties shall, in the selection of judges, take into account the need, within the membership of the Court, for:

Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:

Each candidate must belong to exactly one list.

Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004. [2]

Nomination process

Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2006 election lasted from 18 July to 20 November 2005. The following persons were nominated: [3]

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender
Károly Bard Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary List BEastern European StatesMale
Haridiata Dakoure Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso List AAfrican StatesFemale
Hans-Peter Kaul Flag of Germany.svg  Germany List BWestern European and Other StatesMale
Erkki Kourula Flag of Finland.svg  Finland List BWestern European and Other StatesMale
Akua Kuenyehia Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana List BAfrican StatesFemale
Tuiloma Neroni Slade Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa List AAsian StatesMale
Sang-hyun Song Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea List AAsian StatesMale
Cheikh Tidiane Thiam Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal List BAfrican StatesMale
Ekaterina Trendafilova Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria List AEastern European StatesFemale
Anita Ušacka Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia List BEastern European StatesFemale

The candidature of Effie Owuor of Kenya was withdrawn. [4]

Minimum voting requirements

Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that article 36(8)(a) cited above is fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements existed; they were to be adjusted once the election was underway.

Regarding the List A or B requirement, there was a minimum voting requirement (not to be waived at any time) of one judge from List A and one judge from List B. [5]

Regarding the regional criteria, there were minimum voting requirements for one African, one Asian and two Eastern European judges.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was a minimum voting requirement for one female judge.

The regional and gender criteria could have been adjusted even before the election depending on the number of candidates. Paragraph 20(b) of the ASP resolution that governed the elections states that if there are less than double the number of candidates required for each region, the minimum voting requirement shall be a (rounded-up) half of the number of candidates; except when there is only one candidate which results in no voting requirement. Furthermore, if the number of candidates of one gender is less than ten, then the minimum voting requirement shall not exceed a certain number depending on the number of candidates.

The regional and gender criteria could have been dropped either if they were not (jointly) possible any more, or if after four ballots not all seats were filled.

The voting requirements were as follows:

CriterionVoting requirement ex anteCandidates as of nowAdjusted voting requirementAdjusted requirement equals ex ante?
Lists A or B
List A141Yes
List B161Yes
Regional criteria
African states131Yes
Asian states121Yes
Eastern European states232Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States000Yes
Western European and other States020Yes
Gender criteria
Female141Yes
Male060Yes

Ballots

The only ballot took place on 26 January 2006.

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGenderBallot
Number of States Parties voting100
Two-thirds majority67
Ekaterina Trendafilova Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria List AEastern European StatesFemale82
Anita Ušacka Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia List BEastern European StatesFemale77
Erkki Kourula Flag of Finland.svg  Finland List BWestern European and Other StatesMale73
Akua Kuenyehia Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana List BAfrican StatesFemale72
Sang-hyun Song Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea List AAsian StatesMale70
Hans-Peter Kaul Flag of Germany.svg  Germany List BWestern European and Other StatesMale67
Tuiloma Neroni Slade Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa List AAsian StatesMale50
Károly Bard Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary List BEastern European StatesMale36
Cheikh Tidiane Thiam Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal List BAfrican StatesMale29
Haridiata Dakoure Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso List AAfrican StatesFemale16

With the exception of Judge Slade (who was replaced by Ekaterina Trendafilova) all re-eligible judges were in fact re-elected.

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References

  1. "Second election of the judges of the International Criminal Court" (PDF). International Criminal Court . Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  2. "Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 10 September 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. "Alphabetical listing". International Criminal Court. 3 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  4. Alphabetical listing of candidates. ICC. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  5. Note verbale governing the election Archived 15 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine . ICC. Retrieved 11 December 2011.