India all set to win seat at UN Security Council
Is the endorsed candidate of Asia-Pacific Group of members
WASHINGTON: India was expected to be elected unopposed on Wednesday to the UN Security Council this week and will hope to use its eighth term as a nonpermanent member to bolster its claim to a permanent seat with the avowed goal of forging a “new orientation for a reformed multilateral system”.
India is the endorsed candidate of the Asia-Pacific Group of UN member countries and faces no competition. Its election to one of the five open seats on the 15-member council is a given, though some UN diplomats involved with the election said they are “keeping our fingers crossed”.
Voting by paper ballot will start at 9:30 am (7:00 pm India time on Wednesday) and is expected to go on till 1:30 pm (11pm, India), stretching a process that should have been wrapped up, with the results, possibly by noon, as it happened in 2010, the last time India was elected to UNSC. The results will be known around 4:30 pm (2:00 am Thursday in India).
The 193 UN member countries will vote to elect five non-permanent members in a phased manner for the first time in the world body’s 75-year history. They will be allowed on to the floor of the general assembly, where the voting takes place, in smaller groups, or 20 or so, because of the social distancing norms in place because of Covid-19, said diplomats familiar with the process.
New York City, where the UN is headquartered, remains the epicentre of the disease in the US. It has only recently started lifting restrictions on businesses and public life.
UN diplomats are uncertain how many of the member countries which can vote — some like Venezuela are barred for nonpayment of membership dues — will actually show up to cast their ballots, which must be done physically and not virtually or remotely through an electronic button.
Candidate countries such as India need two-thirds of the votes cast to win; no shows will not count as yes, no or abstention, said officials familiar with the rules.
Mexico is the other endorsed candidate that is likely to go through unopposed from the Latin American and the Caribbean Group seat. Canada, Ireland and Norway are contesting for the two seats for the Western European and Other Group and Kenya and Djibouti are running for the African Group seat.