UNITED NATIONS, Sept 9: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday called for expanding the membership of the Security Council to make the 15-member body more democratic and more representative and thus give it greater legitimacy, especially in view of recent divisions over Iraq.

Responding to a question at a press conference partly reported on Tuesday, Mr Annan declined to be drawn into specifics on who exactly the new members should be, who should be permanent members with the right of veto and who should be elected for specific terms, and what regions should be represented.

However, on the question of criteria for permanent membership of the council, he said “I think that the membership of the General Assembly will have to have some criteria or understanding at least not to elect on to the Council states with issues before the Council, not to elect onto the Council States which are under sanctions by the Council. That would be at least a minimum. I hope that, as member states begin to look at how we can perform better, they will look at those kinds of things as well.”

Asked whether this criteria could preclude India from becoming a permanent member of the Security Council, Annan deadpanned saying “well...”.