Latin American seat on UN Security Council undecided (2nd Roundup)

Oct 16, 2006, 22:32 GMT

New York - The hotly contested Latin American seat on the UN Security Council remained undecided Monday as neither Guatemala nor Venezuela was able to gain the needed two-thirds majority in the 192- nation General Assembly.

In the eighth ballot on Monday, Guatemala received 102 votes, down from 109 earlier, while Venezuela saw its fortunes increased from 76 to 85 votes. On the sixth ballot, both countries had received 93 votes.

Cuba and Mexico entered the race, receiving one vote each.

The assembly will continue voting until one candidate reaches the two-thirds majority of 128 votes. There was no prediction on the winner as Guatemala and Venezuela had been seesawing throughout the day, and the issue appeared likely to carryover to Tuesday at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The two countries were competing to replace Argentina, whose two- year term on the Security Council will expire December 31. Peru, the second Latin American nation on the Security Council, will leave at the end of 2007.

The 15-nation Security Council has five permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain, each wielding vetoes over UN action - and 10 elected members on two-year terms, which are divided equally among the world's five regions. Each year, the assembly elects five new countries to replace the outgoing five members.

In 1979, the assembly had to hold 154 ballots before Mexico won over Colombia. The voting began on October 26, 1979 and ended on January 27, 1980. It was the longest-running election for a seat on the Security Council in UN history, pitting two Latin American nations against each other.

Washington has launched an all-out effort to block Venezuela from the seat, with a wary eye on leftwing populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose popularity has rocketed in Latin America with his increasingly strident anti-US rhetoric.

Chavez's speech in September is still fresh in the collective memory of the General Assembly, where he called US President George Bush 'the devil' from the UN podium and said it smelled of sulphur because Bush had stood there the day before. Even Bush critics found his language shocking.

Venezuela says it wants the seat to overhaul the UN Security Council and reduce the dominance of the five veto powers.

Chavez has proclaimed himself champion of poor countries against rich ones, particularly the US, using his country's oil wealth as a tool to promote his policies. His slogan in running for the Security Council seat had been 'social justice, peace and security.'

To counter Chavez's ambitions, the US sided with Guatemala and campaigned hard among UN members. The first results showed that the efforts paid off, with Guatemala leading but short of the votes to win.

Venezuela's campaign has caused a split among Latin American countries. Chile has charged that the government of President Hugo Chavez has exerted pressure on Latin American nations to vote for Venezuela.

In the first round of balloting, Indonesia won over Nepal, receiving 158 votes against Nepal's 28 votes, to take over the seat to be vacated by Japan end of the year.

South Africa got 186 votes and will replace outgoing Tanzania for the African continent.

Belgium received 180 votes to replace Denmark, and Italy received 186 votes to replace Greece.