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5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council | |||
Membership of the Security Council after the 1995 election | |||
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Unsuccessful candidates |
The 1995 United Nations Security Council election was held on 8 November 1995 at United Nations Headquarters in New York City during the 50th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The General Assembly elected five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year terms commencing on 1 January 1996.
The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and in the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization that was tasked to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international co-operation and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, and is subject to extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development and upholding international law. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. In 24 October 1945, at the end of World War II, the organization was established with the aim of preventing future wars. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The UN is the successor of the ineffective League of Nations.
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the UN, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General of the United Nations, receive reports from other parts of the UN, and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. It has also established numerous subsidiary organs.
The five candidates elected were Chile, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Poland, and the Republic of Korea.
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, across the Red Sea lies Saudi Arabia, and across the Mediterranean lie Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, although none share a land border with Egypt.
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 1,815,698.
In accordance with the General Assembly's rules for the geographic distribution of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, and established practice, the members were to be elected as follows: two from Africa, one from Asia, one from Latin American and the Caribbean Group (GRULAC), and one from the Eastern European Group.
The United Nations Regional Groups are the geopolitical regional groups of the Member States of the United Nations. Originally, United Nations Member States were unofficially grouped into five geopolitical regional groups. However, what began as an informal means of sharing the distribution of posts for United Nations bodies quickly took on a much more expansive role. Depending on the context, the regional groups control elections to United Nations-related positions, on the basis of geographic representation, as well as coordinate substantive policy, and form common fronts for negotiations and voting.
The Eastern European Group (EEG), also known as Countries with Economies in Transition (CEIT), is one of the five unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups. The group consists of countries in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Baltics, Central Europe, and the Caucasus, which form the area of the former Eastern Bloc. Europe is divided between the EEG and the Western European and Others Group. The group currently has 23 members.
There was a total of seven candidates for the five seats. The seats of the Asian Group and GRULAC were not contested, with single candidates applying for them: Chile and the Republic of Korea, respectively. For the two seats reserved for African nations, there were three candidates: Benin, Egypt, and Guinea-Bissau; the election was only significantly contested between Benin and Guinea-Bissau, as Egypt's candidacy was to fill the unofficial seat reserved for members of the Arab League (being vacated by Oman). For the single seat of the Eastern European Group, there were two candidates: Albania and Poland. Of these, a number were the official endorsed candidates of their respective regional groups. These endorsements were as follows:
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. The majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometres (44,310 sq mi) and its population in 2016 was estimated to be approximately 10.87 million. Benin is a tropical nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.
The Arab League, formally the League of Arab States, is a regional organization of Arab states in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia. It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. Currently, the League has 22 members, but Syria's participation has been suspended since November 2011, as a consequence of government repression during the Syrian Civil War.
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea within the Mediterranean Sea. It shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south and a maritime border with Italy to the west.
Pellumb Kulla of Albania, speaking for the Eastern European Group, said that the Group was not in a position to endorse a candidate. As the representative of Albania, he then presented his own countries candidature.
Voting proceeded by secret ballot. For each geographic group, each member state could vote for as many candidates as were to be elected. There were 177 ballots in each of the three elections.
African and Asian States election results | |
---|---|
Member | Round 1 |
159 | |
156 | |
128 | |
60 | |
1 | |
1 | |
abstentions | 0 |
invalid ballots | 0 |
required majority | 118 |
Latin American and Caribbean States election results | |
---|---|
Member | Round 1 |
168 | |
1 | |
abstentions | 7 |
invalid ballots | 1 |
required majority | 113 |
Eastern European States election results | |
---|---|
Member | Round 1 |
128 | |
48 | |
abstentions | 0 |
invalid ballots | 1 |
required majority | 118 |
The election was ended in a single round of voting, with Albania and Benin losing to Poland and Guinea-Bissau, respectively, and the other candidates running unopposed. This led to the result of Chile, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Poland, and the Republic of Korea being elected to serve two-year terms at the United Nations Security Council commencing 1 January 1996.
The Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were simultaneously admitted to the United Nations (UN) in 1991. On 8 August 1991, the UN Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 702, recommending both states to the UN General Assembly for membership. On 17 September 1991, the General Assembly admitted both countries under Resolution 46/1.
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