General Assembly: 36th plenary meetings, 80th session

Good morning, everybody. We just got the information from the Security Council that they are ready, so we will start as well. The 36th plenary meeting of the General Assembly is called to order. The Assembly will take up sub-item c of agenda item 113 for the election of a member of the International Court of Justice for the remainder of the term of office of Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, which would have expired on 5 February 2027. The documentation under this item is listed in the Journal of the United Nations. In this connection, I have been informed by the Legal Counsel that after the established deadline for nominating candidates, additional nominations with respect to the candidates whose names appear in document A/80/409 are received. The additional nominations in question are from the National Groups of Bahrain and of Latvia, with regard to the candidacy of Tawoheed Olufemi Elias, Nigeria. The names of the following four candidates will appear on the ballot papers. Tawoheed Olufemi Elias, Nigeria. Charles Chaynor Yandoh, Sierra Leone. Paul Kuruk, Ghana; and Phoebe Okowa, Kenya. I should like to confirm that at this time, the Assembly and the Security Council will proceed independently of one another to elect one member of the Court to fill the vacancy in accordance with Article 8 of the Statute of the Court. This election in the Assembly will be held in accordance with the Statute of the Court, in particular Articles 2 to 4, 7 to 12 and 14, and Rules 150 and 151 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly. According to Article 2 of the Statute, Members of the Court are to be elected, regardless of their nationality, from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law. Article 9 requires electors to bear in mind not only that the person to be elected should individually possess the qualifications required, but also that in the body as a whole the representation of the main forms of civilization and of the principal legal systems of the world should be assured. The candidate who obtains an absolute majority of the votes, both in the Assembly and in the Council, will be considered as elected, pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 1 of the Statute. The consistent practice of the United Nations has been to interpret the words "absolute majority" as meaning a majority of all electors, whether or not they vote or are allowed to vote. The electors in the Assembly will be all 193 Member States. Accordingly, 97 votes constitute an absolute majority in the Assembly for the purpose of the present election. Only the candidates whose names appear on the ballot paper are eligible for election. The electors in the Assembly will indicate the candidate for whom they wish to vote by placing a cross against the name on the ballot paper. Each elector may vote for only one candidate. In accordance with Article 5 and 7 of the Statute, no additional candidates may be nominated on the day of the elections. At the 915th plenary meeting of the Assembly on November 16, 1960, a procedural discussion was held as to whether rule 94, which was then rule 96 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly, should be applied in elections to the Court. That rule lays down a procedure for restricted ballots in the event that after the first ballot, the requisite number of candidates have not obtained the required majority. By 47 votes to 27, with 25 abstentions, the Assembly decided that the rule did not apply to elections to the Court and proceeded to elect the requisite number of candidates by a series of unrestricted ballots. That decision has been followed consequently. Accordingly, if in the first ballot in the Assembly no candidate receives an absolute majority, a second ballot will be held and balloting will continue at the same meeting until the candidate has obtained the quiet majority pursuant to Rule 151 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly. When a candidate has obtained the absolute majority in the Assembly, the President of the Assembly will notify the President of the Council accordingly. Such notification will not be communicated by the President of the Council to its members until one candidate receives the required majority of votes in the Council. Upon the exchange of notifications between the Assembly and the Council, informing each other that the same candidate has received the absolute majority in both the Assembly and the Council, each organ will announce that the candidate has been elected. If, upon comparison of the name of the candidate so selected by the Assembly and the Council, it is found that the candidate has not been thus selected pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 1 of the Statute, the Assembly and the Council will proceed, again independently of one another, to a second meeting and, if necessary, a third meeting, to elect a candidate. The results again being compared after candidate has obtained an absolute majority in each organ. If, however, after the third meeting, the vacancy still remains unfilled, the procedures set out in Article 12 of the statute may be resorted to at the request of either the Assembly or the Council. The first meeting held for the purpose of the election, as referred to in Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, will be adjourned upon the exchange of notifications and the announcement of the results in both organs. May I take it that the Assembly agrees to these procedures at this election? It is so decided. I should like to remind representatives that pursuant to Rule 88 of the Rules of Procedure, after the President has announced the beginning of voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting. Any announcements, including those concerning withdrawals of candidatures, should therefore be made prior to the commencement of the voting process. That is so to say before the announcement of the beginning of the voting process. We shall now begin the voting process. But Ballot papers will now be distributed. Ballot papers will only be given to the delegates seated directly behind the country's nameplate. Representatives are requested to use only the ballot papers that are now being distributed. Only the candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers are eligible. Representatives will indicate the one candidate for whom they wish to vote by placing a cross at the left of the name of the ballot paper. Ballot papers on which more than one name is checked will be considered invalid. If a ballot paper contains any notation other than a vote in favour of an eligible candidate, those notations will be disregarded. If a mistake is made in filling out the ballot paper, delegation should request a new ballot paper from the secretariat at the front of the hall. I invite the representative of the following states to act as tellers and to accompany the conference officers as they collect the ballot papers. Azerbaijan, Brazil, Mauritania, Mongolia, Portugal and Rwanda. I thank you. Please proceed to collect the ballot papers. May I request delegations who may not have voted to do so now by approaching the podium to cast their votes. I don't see anyone. Therefore, the voting is now closed. No more ballot papers will be accepted. I suspend the meeting for 30 minutes.

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Please take your seats. The plenary meeting is resumed. The results of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 188. Number of invalid ballots, 2. Number of valid ballots, 186. Abstentions, 1. Number of members present and voting, 185. Absolute majority, 97. Number of individual votes obtained. Phoebe Okowa, Kenya, 78. Charles Chenoa Yalo, Sierra Leone, 58. Taohid Onufemi Elias, Nigeria, 40. Paul Kurok, Ghana, 9. Since no candidate has obtained an absolute majority and in accordance with the decision taken at the beginning of this meeting, we shall proceed to another ballot until one candidate obtains an absolute majority. Only when one candidate has obtained the required majority in the Assembly Will the President of the Assembly notify the President of the Council of the name of the candidate? The Assembly will now proceed with balloting. I should like to remind representatives that pursuant to rule 88 of the Rules of Procedure, after one second. I will read out the procedure and then we will come to the next steps. I should like to remind representatives that pursuant to Rule 88 of the Rules of Procedure, After the President has announced the beginning of voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting, except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting. Any announcement, including those concerning withdrawals of candidature, should therefore be made prior to the commencement of the voting process. That is to say, before the announcement of the beginning of the voting process. And we just received one of these announcements. The representative of Ghana has informed me of the decision to withdraw the candidature of Paul Kurok, Ghana, from the current election. May I take it that all the national groups that nominated Paul Kurok have no objections? I see no objection. Paul Kurok is therefore no longer a candidate and his name will not appear on the ballot papers. I therefore, for the reprint of the ballot papers, suspend the meeting again for 15 minutes to inform the President of the Council of the withdrawal and to allow time for the Secretary to prepare new ballot papers. I would ask to stay in the room because the suspension is only 15 minutes. The meeting is suspended. The meeting is resumed. We shall now begin the voting process. As before, ballot papers will now be distributed. Ballot papers will only be given to the delegate seated directly behind the country's nameplate. Representatives are requested to use only the ballot papers that are now being distributed. Only the candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers are eligible. Representatives will indicate the one candidate for whom they wish to vote by placing a cross at the left of the name of the ballot paper. Ballot papers on which more than one name is checked will be considered invalid. If a ballot paper contains any notation other than a vote in favor of the eligible candidates, those notations will be disregarded. If a mistake is made in filling out the ballot paper, delegations should request a new ballot paper from the Secretariat at the front of the hall. I invite the representatives of the following states to act as tellers and to accompany the conference officers as they collect the ballot papers: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Mauritania, Mongolia, Portugal, and Rwanda. Please proceed to collect the ballot papers. May I request delegations who may not have voted to do so now by approaching the podium to cast their votes. The voting is now closed. No more ballot papers will be accepted. I suspend the meeting for 20 minutes.

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The plenary meeting is resumed. The result of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 188. Number of invalid ballots, zero. Number of valid ballots, 188. Abstentions, zero. Number of members present and voting, 188. Absolute majority, 97. Number of individual votes obtained. Phoebe Okowa, Kenya, 91. Charles Chaynor Jallow, Sierra Leone, 66. Tauheed Olufemi Elias, Nigeria, 31. Since no candidate has obtained an absolute majority, and in accordance with the decision taken at the beginning of this meeting, we shall proceed to another ballot until one candidate obtains an absolute majority. Only when one candidate has obtained the required majority in the Assembly will the President of the Assembly notify the President of the Council of the name of the candidate. The Assembly will now proceed with the balloting. Again, I should like to remind representatives that pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure, after the President has announced the beginning of voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting. Any announcements, including those concerning withdrawals of candidatures, should therefore be made prior to the commencement of the voting process, so that is to say, before the announcement of the beginning of the voting process. We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers will be now distributed. Ballot papers will only be given to delegates seated directly behind the country's nameplate. Representatives are requested to use only the ballot papers that are now being distributed. Only the candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers are eligible. Representatives will indicate the one candidate for whom they wish to vote by placing a cross at the left of the name on the ballot paper. Ballot papers on which more than one name is checked will be considered invalid. If a ballot paper contains any notation other than a vote in favor of the eligible candidates, those notations will be disregarded. If a mistake is made in filling out the ballot paper, delegations should request a new ballot paper from the Secretariat at the front of the hall. I invite again the representatives of the following states to act as tellers and to accompany the conference officers as they collect the ballot papers: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Mauritania, Mongolia, Portugal, and Rwanda. Please proceed to collect the ballot papers. May I request delegations who may not have voted to do so now by approaching the podium to cast their votes. The voting is now closed. No more ballot papers will be accepted. I suspend the meeting again for 20 minutes. Okay.

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The plenary meeting is resumed. The result of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 188. Number of invalid ballots, 0. Number of valid ballots, 188. Abstentions, 0. Number of members present and voting, 188. Absolute majority, 97. Number of individual votes obtained. Phoebe Okowa, Kenya, 104. Charles Cherno Jalloh, Sierra Leone, 61. Tawheed Olufemi Elias, Nigeria, 23. Phoebe Okowa of Kenya has obtained an absolute majority in the Assembly. I have communicated the result of the vote to the President of the Security Council. I have received from the President of the Council the following letter. Excellency, I have the honor to inform you that at the 10,039th meeting of the Security Council, held on November 12, 2025, for the purpose of electing a member of the International Court of Justice to fill the seat that became vacant on September 30, 2025, Mr. Charles Jannoh Jalloh, Sierra Leone, obtained an absolute majority of votes in the Security Council. Except Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest considerations, President of the Security Council, Michael Imran Kanu. As a result of the voting that has taken place independently in the Assembly and the Council, no candidate has obtained an absolute majority in both the Assembly and the Council. In accordance with provisions of Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, It will be now necessary to hold another meeting to fill the vacancy. This meeting will therefore be adjourned and the 37th meeting will be held immediately to vote on the vacancy. The meeting is adjourned.