1980 United Nations Security Council election
The 1980 United Nations Security Council election was held from 20 October to 13 November 1980 during the Thirty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The General Assembly elected Ireland, Japan, Panama, Spain, and Uganda, as the five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 1981.
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5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council | |||
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| Unsuccessful candidates |
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Rules
The Security Council has 15 seats, filled by five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Each year, half of the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms.[1][2] A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.[3]
In accordance with the rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes,[4] the five available seats are allocated as follows:
- One for African countries (held by Zambia)
- One for countries from the Asian Group (now called the Asia-Pacific Group[5]) (held by Bangladesh)
- One for Latin America and the Caribbean (held by Jamaica)
- Two for the Western European and Others Group (held by Norway and Portugal)
To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.
Candidates
Western Europe and Others
The candidates for the Western European and Others Group were announced by its chairman, the delegate for New Zealand, prior to the first round of voting.[6]
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Non-candidates
Result
Voting was conducted on separate ballots for the three regional groups.
African and Asian States
| African and Asian States election results | |
|---|---|
| Member | Round 1 |
 | 141 |
 | 134 |
 | 2 |
 | 1 |
 | 1 |
| abstentions | 3 |
| invalid ballots | 0 |
| required majority | 98 |
Source:[6]
Western European and Others Group
| Western European and Others Group election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 1 | |||
 | 109 | |||
 | 107 | |||
| 74 | |||
| invalid ballots | 0 | |||
| abstentions | 2 | |||
| required majority | 100 | |||
Source:[6]
Latin American and Caribbean Group
The election of one election of one Latin American or Caribbean state took several days to resolve.
Day 1
The first three rounds of voting took place during the 41st[6] and 42nd[11] plenary meetings of the General Assembly.
| Latin American and Caribbean Group election results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
| 89 | 78 | 74 |
| 26 | 63 | 70 |
| 9 | — | — |
| 6 | — | — |
| 2 | — | — |
 | 1 | — | — |
 | 1 | — | — |
 | 1 | — | — |
| abstentions | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| invalid ballots | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| required majority | 90 | 94 | 96 |
Day 2
The fourth through eighth rounds of voting were held during the 43rd plenary meeting of the General Assembly.[9]
| Latin American and Caribbean Group election results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 |
| 90 | 84 | 87 | 86 | 86 |
| 47 | 36 | 25 | 19 | — |
| — | 22 | 30 | 40 | 60 |
| — | 4 | 2 | 1 | — |
 | — | — | 2 | 3 | — |
 | — | 1 | — | — | — |
 | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| — | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| — | — | 1 | — | — |
| abstentions | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| invalid ballots | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| required majority | 92 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 98 |
Day 3
The ninth and tenth rounds of voting were held during the 47th plenary meeting of the General Assembly.[12]
| Latin American and Caribbean Group election results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 9 | Round 10 |
| 81 | 82 |
| 62 | 60 |
| abstentions | 5 | 5 |
| invalid ballots | 0 | 0 |
| required majority | 96 | 95 |
Day 4
The eleventh through thirteenth rounds of voting were held during the 51st plenary session.[10]
| Latin American and Caribbean Group election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 11 | Round 12 | Round 13 | Round 14 |
| 82 | 84 | 83 | 85 |
| 16 | 38 | 25 | 57 |
| 12 | 8 | 18 | – |
| 10 | 7 | 10 | – |
.svg.png){kind=small} | 4 | – | – | – |
 | 3 | 2 | 4 | – |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | – |
| 1 | – | – | – |
| 1 | – | – | – |
| 1 | – | – | – |
 | – | 1 | – | – |
.svg.png){kind=small} | – | 1 | – | – |
| abstentions | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| invalid ballots | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| required majority | 88 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
Day 5
The fifteenth through twenty-second rounds of voting were held during the 57th plenary meeting of the General Assembly.[8]
| Latin American and Caribbean Group election results | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Round 15 | Round 16 | Round 17 | Round 18 | Round 19 | Round 20 | Round 21 | Round 22 |
| 75 | 71 | 62 | 62 | 59 | 58 | 53 | 52 |
| 73 | 75 | 79 | 83 | 85 | 88 | 91 | 93 |
| – | – | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
| – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
 | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
| – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| abstentions | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| invalid ballots | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| required majority | 99 | 98 | 100 | 99 | 98 | 98 | 96 | 97 |
Day 6
The twenty-third and final round of voting was held during the 61st plenary session of the General Assembly.[13]
| Latin American and Caribbean States election results | |
|---|---|
| Member | Round 23 |
| 111 |
| 16 |
| 2 |
 | 1 |
 | 1 |
.svg.png){kind=small} | 1 |
| 1 |
| 1 |
 | 1 |
| abstentions | 5 |
| invalid ballots | 0 |
| required majority | 90 |
References
- United Nations Security Council (2008), Repertoire of the practice of the Security Council, p. 178
- Conforti, Benedetto (2005), The law and practice of the United Nations, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 61
- Charter of the United Nations, Article 23
- Resolution 1991 A (XVIII), dated 1963-12-17, in force 1965-08-31.
- "Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group", Radio New Zealand International, 2011-08-31.
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Forty-first Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Monday, 20 October 1980. (A/35/PV.41) 20 October 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Fifty-ninth Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Wednesday, 12 November 1980. (A/35/PV.59) 12 November 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Fifty-seventh Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Tuesday, 11 November 1980. (A/35/PV.57) 11 November 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Forty-third Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Tuesday, 21 October 1980. (A/35/PV.43) 21 October 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Fifty-first Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Tuesday, 4 November 1980. (A/35/PV.51) 4 November 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Forty-second Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Monday, 20 October 1980. (A/35/PV.42) 20 October 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Forty-seventh Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Friday, 24 October 1980. (A/35/PV.47) 24 October 1980
- U.N. General Assembly, 35th session. Provisional Verbatim Record of the Sixty-seventh Meeting Held at Headquarters, New York, On Thursday, 13 November 1980. (A/35/PV.61) 13 November 1980
External links
- UN Document A/59/881 Note Verbale from the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica containing a record of Security Council elections up to 2004