November 2009 International Criminal Court judges election

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A special election for two judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the 8th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on 18 November 2009. [1]

Contents

The election had become necessary after two judges elected in the January election were unavailable: Mohamed Shahabuddeen of Guyana had resigned before taking office [2] while Fumika Saiga of Japan had died on 24 April 2009. [3]

Background

The judges elected at this election were chosen to complete the terms, until 10 March 2018, of the judges they replaced.

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. [4]

Nomination process

Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the November 2009 special election lasted from 5 August to 16 September 2009 and was extended thrice until 28 October 2009 due to the lack of candidates from some groups for which minimum voting requirements were in place. The following persons were nominated: [5]

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina List ALatin American and Caribbean StatesFemale
Cecilia Medina Quiroga Flag of Chile.svg  Chile List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesFemale
Marco Gerardo Monroy Cabra Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesMale
Kuniko Ozaki Flag of Japan.svg  Japan List BAsian StatesFemale
Duke E. E. Pollard Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesMale

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 no minimum voting requirement. [6]

Regarding the regional criteria, there was a voting requirement for one judge from the Asian States and one judge from the Latin American and Caribbean States.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was no minimum voting requirement.

The regional and gender criteria were to be 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 A010Yes
List B040Yes
Regional criteria
African states000Yes
Asian states110No
Eastern European states000Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States141Yes
Western European and other States000Yes
Gender criteria
Female030Yes
Male020Yes

Ballots

All ballots took place on 18 November 2009. The voting totals were as follows:

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender1st round2nd round3rd round4th round5th round6th round
Number of States Parties voting928991918988
Two-thirds majority626061616059
Kuniko Ozaki Flag of Japan.svg  Japan List BAsian StatesFemale79elected
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina List ALatin American and Caribbean StatesFemale363542495862
Duke E. E. Pollard Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesMale262732333126
Cecilia Medina Quiroga Flag of Chile.svg  Chile List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesFemale2320179withdrawn
Marco Gerardo Monroy Cabra Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia List BLatin American and Caribbean StatesMale137withdrawn

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References

  1. "Results of the fourth election of the judges of the International Criminal Court". International Criminal Court. 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  2. Resignation of Mr. Mohamed Shahabuddeen. ICC. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  3. Passing of Judge Fumiko Saiga. ICC. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  4. "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.
  5. "Alphabetical listing". International Criminal Court. 16 September 2009. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  6. Note verbale governing the election. ICC. Retrieved 11 December 2011.