U.N. General Assembly elects four Security Council members

Ethiopia, Bolivia, Sweden, Kazakhstan were elected on Tuesday (June 28) as non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, while the contest between Netherlands and Italy for the fifth position was still being waged at 1800 GMT.

The two countries are candidates for the second ‘Western European and other States’ category. With 193- members of the U.N. General Assembly, countries needed more than two-thirds of a vote to win a seat.

There have been two revote rounds so far, the last ended in a draw as The Netherlands had 96 votes, while Italy had 94. Fourth-round revotes are scheduled to resume at 1900 GMT following an hour long recess.

Ethiopia won with an endorsement and 185 votes in favor in the first round. Bolivia also won in the first round with 183 votes. Kazakhstan was the most recent to be selected during the second round of votes, beating out Thailand with 138 votes in favor.

The five countries are to serve on the council from 2017-18 and will be replacing preceding countries Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela on the council starting Jan. 1, 2017. These countries will be 5 of the ten non- permanent members that make up the U.N. Security Council. France, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and the United States hold the 5 permanent seats.