UN releases voting procedure for June 17 elections

The United Nations has issued a new voting procedure for the election of its next General Assembly president slated for June 17 in New York.

Also to be elected same day are five new nonpermanent members of the Security Council, and 18 new members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The new procedure is contained in a letter by the current President of the General Assembly, Amb. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, to ambassadors of the 193 UN member countries on Tuesday evening.

Muhammad-Bande had earlier informed them that the elections would hold in line with social distancing guidelines to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Normally, such elections are held during plenary meetings inside the General Assembly Hall chamber at the UN headquarters in New York.

But under the new procedure, delegates will cast secret ballots during allotted spaced-out time slots in the hall.

According to the new guideline, the elections will hold simultaneously between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in eight time slots marked A to H lasting 30 minutes each.

Accordingly, 24 delegates will enter the hall at a time to cast their ballot in line with their assigned slots.

Nigeria is in slot F along with North Korea, France, India, Japan, United Arab Emirates, among others, who would be voting between 11:30 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Additional 30 minutes had been provided between 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. for delegates who would be unable to visit the venue during their time slots.

The PGA said he would circulate the names of the candidates to the delegates at least a day before the election.

Turkish ambassador to the UN, Volkan Bozkir, is the sole candidate for the president of the 75th session of the General Assembly, which begins in September.

It was reported that his name was initially sent for unanimous approval, but several countries reportedly requested a vote.

In the UN Security Council, there are five permanent members (United States, Russia, China, Britain and France) and 10 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for two-year term.

On June 17, seven countries would be contesting for five seats in the council, which is the most powerful organ of the UN.

Canada, Ireland and Norway are vying for two seats in the group of Western nations, while Kenya and Djibouti are battling for one seat to represent Africa.

India is running unopposed for the Asia-Pacific seat, same for Mexico for the Latin America and the Caribbean seat.

Eighteen new members will also be elected to serve for three-year terms in the 54-member ECOSOC, which focuses on economic, environmental and human rights issues.