UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly elected Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea to the UN Security Council on Tuesday for two-year terms starting on Jan 1 next year, while Belarus — allied with Russia in its invasion of Ukraine — was denied a spot.

Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and South Korea ran unopposed for a spot on the 15-member body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. In the only competitive race, Slovenia beat out Belarus. The five elected nations will replace Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates.

The Security Council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorising use of force. It has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. But even if candidates are running unopposed in their group, they still need to win the support of more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

Guyana received 191 votes, Sierra Leone 188, Algeria received 184 votes, South Korea 180.

Slovenia won 153 votes to beat Belarus, which received 38 votes.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023