2014 International Criminal Court judges election

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Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court scheduled for 8 to 17 December 2014 in New York. The judges were elected for terms of nine years and took office on 11 March 2015.

Contents

Background

Song Sang-Hyun, then President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was one of six judges whose terms expired on 11 March 2015. Song Sang-Hyun - Trento 2014 01.JPG
Song Sang-Hyun, then President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was one of six judges whose terms expired on 11 March 2015.

The judges elected at this session replaced those six judges which were elected at the second election of ICC judges in 2006 for a full term of nine years; they will also serve for nine years until 2024.

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 has to belong to exactly one list.

Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004. [1]

Judges remaining in office

As of August 2014, the following judges are scheduled to remain in office beyond 2015:

JudgeCountry Lists A or B Regional criteria Gender
List AList BAfricanAsianE. EuropeanGRULAGWEOGFemaleMale
Joyce Aluoch Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya XXX
Miriam Defensor Santiago Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines XXX
Chile Eboe-Osuji Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria XXX
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina XXX
Robert Fremr Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic XXX
Geoffrey A. Henderson Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago XXX
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  Dominican Republic XXX
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana XXX
Howard Morrison Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom XXX
Kuniko Ozaki Flag of Japan.svg  Japan XXX
Cuno Tarfusser Flag of Italy.svg  Italy XXX
Christine van den Wyngaert Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium XXX
    
933213375

Nomination process

Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2014 election lasts from 28 April to 20 July 2014. It was extended once due to the lack of candidates from Asia until 3 August 2014. The following persons were nominated as of 4 August 2014: [2]

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender
Reine Alapini-Gansou Flag of Benin.svg  Benin List BAfricaFemale
Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia List AAfricaMale
Emmanuel Yaw Benneh Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana List BAfricaMale
Toma Birmontienė Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania List BEastern EuropeFemale
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil List BLatin America and CaribbeanMale
Chung Chang-ho Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea List AAsiaMale
Zlata Đurđević Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia List BEastern EuropeFemale
Pavel Gontšarov Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia List AEastern EuropeMale
Piotr Hofmański Flag of Poland.svg  Poland List AEastern EuropeMale
Péter Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary List BEastern EuropeMale
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  Democratic Republic of the Congo List BAfricaMale
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira Flag of East Timor.svg  Timor-Leste List AAsiaFemale
Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut Flag of France.svg  France List BWestern Europe and OthersMale
Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar List BAfricaFemale
Bertram Schmitt Flag of Germany.svg  Germany List AWestern Europe and OthersMale
Krister Hans Thelin Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden List AWestern Europe and OthersMale
Mindia Ugrekhelidze Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia List AEastern EuropeMale

Minimum voting requirements

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

Assuming that there is no change in the bench, the voting requirements will be as follows:

CriterionNumber of judges requiredNumber of judges remaining in officeEx ante voting requirementCurrent number of candidatesAdjusted voting requirementAdjusted voting requirement equals ex ante?Extension of nomination period necessary?
Lists A or B
List A99080YesNo
List B53292YesNo
Regional criteria
African states33050YesNo
Asian states32121YesNo
Eastern European states31262YesNo
Latin American and Caribbean States33010YesNo
Western European and other States33030YesNo
Gender criteria
Female67050YesNo
Male651121YesNo

Regarding the List A or B requirement, there are two seats reserved for List B judges. This requirement must be fulfilled under any circumstances.

Regarding the regional criteria, there are three seats reserved for regional groups: two for the Eastern European States and one for the Asian States.

Regarding the gender criteria, there is one seat reserved for male candidates.

The regional and gender criteria can be adjusted even before the election depending on the number of candidates. Paragraph 20(b) of the ASP resolution that governs the elections states that if there are less than double the number of candidates required for each region, the minimum voting requirement would have been a (rounded-up) half of the number of candidates; except when there is only one candidate which would result in no voting requirement.

The regional and gender criteria will be dropped either if they are not (jointly) possible any more, or if after four ballots not all seats are filled.

Ballots

All results are from the ASP homepage [3] if not otherwise noted.

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender8 December 20149 December 201410 December 201412 December 2014
1st ballot2nd ballot3rd ballot4th ballot5th ballot6th ballot7th ballot8th ballot9th ballot10th ballot11th ballot
Valid votes cast104107116116116117119113117118117
Two-thirds majority7072787878788076787978
Chung Chang-ho Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea List AAsiaMale73elected
Piotr Hofmański Flag of Poland.svg  Poland List AEastern EuropeMale63667287elected
Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut Flag of France.svg  France List BWestern Europe and OthersMale615867757387elected
Bertram Schmitt Flag of Germany.svg  Germany List AWestern Europe and OthersMale676869717179elected
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  Democratic Republic of the Congo List BAfricaMale39425154666569717784elected
Péter Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary List BEastern EuropeMale5259596856635457565546
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira Flag of East Timor.svg  Timor-Leste List AAsiaFemale3819202435343429333129
Krister Hans Thelin Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden List AWestern Europe and OthersMale4445445243433537373628
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil List BLatin America and CaribbeanMale3435272834332224221914
Reine Alapini-Gansou Flag of Benin.svg  Benin List BAfricaFemale1216202315136433withdrawn
Zlata Đurđević Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia List BEastern EuropeFemale35353438242610withdrawn
Mindia Ugrekhelidze Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia List AEastern EuropeMale2320252315103withdrawn
Toma Birmontienė Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania List BEastern EuropeFemale2220272512withdrawn
Pavel Gontšarov Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia List AEastern EuropeMale262327withdrawn
Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia List AAfricaMale121517withdrawn
Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar List BAfricaFemale11814withdrawn
Emmanuel Yaw Benneh Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana List BAfricaMale53withdrawn
NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender15 December 201416 December 2014
12th ballot13th ballot14th ballot15th ballot16th ballot17th ballot18th ballot19th ballot20th ballot21st ballot22nd ballot
Valid votes cast114117117111114115114110114115116
Two-thirds majority7678787476777674767778
Péter Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary List BEastern EuropeMale4460605962656566707379
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira Flag of East Timor.svg  Timor-Leste List AAsiaFemale4657575252504944444237
Krister Hans Thelin Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden List AWestern Europe and OthersMale24withdrawn
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil List BLatin America and CaribbeanMalewithdrawn

Minimum voting requirements (MVR)

Minimum voting requirementMVRs before ballotsMVR fulfilled?
Asian judges1Yes, fulfilled after 1st ballot
Eastern European judges2Yes, discontinued after 4th ballot but fulfilled after 22nd ballot
Male judges1Yes, fulfilled after 1st ballot
List B judges2Yes, fulfilled after 10th ballot

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References

  1. "Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6" (PDF). International Criminal Court. 10 September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  2. Election 2014 Archived 6 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine . Assembly of States Parties. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  3. 2014 - Election of six judges - Results Archived 26 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine . Assembly of States Parties. Retrieved 9 December 2014.