Security Council Elects Judge to International Court of Justice
The Security Council today, meeting independently from but concurrently with the General Assembly, elected Yuji Iwasawa (Japan) to the International Court of Justice until 5 February 2021.
He would be serving, with immediate effect, the remainder of the nine-year term of office that had been held by Hisashi Owada (Japan), whose resignation from the Court took effect on 7 June.
Under the terms of the Court’s statute, a candidate obtaining an absolute majority of votes in both organs is considered elected. In the Council, eight votes constitute an absolute majority and no distinction is made between its permanent and non‑permanent members. By contrast, all 193 Member States in the General Assembly are electors. Accordingly, for the election, 97 votes constitute an absolute majority in the Assembly. (Please see Press Release GA/12029)
The meeting began at 10:10 a.m. and ended at 10:58 a.m.
First Round of Voting
The results of the first round of voting were as follows:
|
Number of ballots: |
15 |
|
Number of invalid ballots: |
0 |
|
Number of valid ballots: |
15 |
|
Number of abstentions: |
0 |
|
Required majority: |
8 |
|
Number of votes obtained: |
|
|
Yuji Iwasawa (Japan) |
15 |
Mr. Iwasawa received the absolute majority in the Council.
Dmitry A. Polyanskiy (Russian Federation), Council president for June, then announced that he had received a letter from the President of the General Assembly informing him that Mr. Iwasawa had acquired the required majority in the Assembly.
As the same candidate had received the required absolute majority in both the Council and the Assembly, Mr. Iwasawa had been elected to the International Court of Justice for a term of office of nine years, beginning today until 5 February 2021.