Countries to vie for seats on UN Security Council

Oct 11, 2010, 19:36 GMT

New York - The UN General Assembly on Tuesday will elect five countries to fill soon-to-be vacant seats on the UN Security Council, the political body that has responsibility over world peace and security.

The election taking place in the 192-nation assembly has stirred excitement because some of the candidates, like Germany and India, are demanding permanent seats while running for the moment for two- year terms in the 15-nation council.

Canada, Germany and Portugal are competing for two seats to be vacated on December 31 by Turkey and Austria.

South Africa, India and Colombia are running for the three other available seats and are almost certain to get elected since their candidacies are unopposed. The three outgoing countries are Uganda, Japan and Mexico.

Winners must receive two-thirds majority of votes in the 192- nation assembly.

Candidates are usually chosen by countries in each of the world's five regions on a rotating basis in order to curb unnecessary competition.

The Western European and Others Group, which includes Israel, Australia and New Zealand, could not agree on a clean slate to fill the seats occupied by Turkey and Austria, resulting in three candidates for two seats.

The UN Security Council is composed of five permanent members - the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China - and 10 members elected for two-year terms. Five of the elected members are chosen each year to replace the five that will have completed terms by year's end.

The five permanent members have veto power over UN resolutions while exercising great influence on the decision-making process in the UN.

Diplomats said the composition of the council in 2011 could be more interesting than in previous years because of the presence of South Africa, Nigeria, India, Brazil and possibly Germany, if it gets elected on Tuesday. Those countries have demanded permanent seats with power on a par with the current permanent members.

The General Assembly began discussion in the 1980s to reform and enlarge the Security Council from the current 15 to 21 or 26 members in order to reflect UN membership's demands for representation.

The reform talks so far have resulted in making the council more transparent, but have failed to overhaul the body, which was created in 1945 with 11 members when the total UN membership stood at about 50.