International Court of Justice - Security Council, 10261st meeting Security Council Date: 3 November 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/sc/10261 Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- UNSC · UNSC · President [29:16]: The 10,261st meeting of the Security Council is called to order. I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute On behalf of the Council, to Her Excellency Ambassador Aglaia Balta, Permanent Representative of Greece, for the service as the President of the Council in the month of October, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of all members of the Council, that expressing deep appreciation for your splendid work and the great diplomatic skill with which you carried out your tasks and conducted the business of this Council last month. So thank you very much. The provisional agenda for this meeting is: election of five members of the International Court of Justice, documents S/2026/524, S/2026/525, S/2026/526, S/2026/525, addendum 1; S/2026/525, addendum 2; and S/2026/526. The agenda is adopted. The Security Council will now proceed to the election of five members of the International Court of Justice in accordance with articles 2 to 4 and 7 to 12 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and Rules 40 and 61 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council, to fill the five seats that will become vacant upon the expiry of the terms of the following judges on 5 February 2027: Judge Ronny Abraham, France; Judge Dalvir Bhandari, India; Judge Leonardo Nemer Caldera Brandt, Brazil. Judge Mahmoud Dafailah Hamoud, Jordan. Judge Phoebe Okoa, Kenya. The nominated candidates are as follows. Dapo Akande, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Francois Labrune, France. Mahmoud Dafailah Hamoud, Jordan. Luz del Carmen Ibanez Caranza, Peru. Charles Cherno Jalloh, Sierra Leone. Reina Lee, Singapore. Phoebe Okoa, Kenya. Jin Hyun Paik, Republic of Korea. Marcelo Vasquez Bermudez, Ecuador. The list of candidates, indicating the national groups by which each candidate was nominated, is contained in document S/2026/525, as amended by S/2026/525 addendum 1 and S/2026/525 addendum 2. I should like to inform members of the Council that I have received a letter addressed to me by the Legal Counsel, dated 2nd of November, 2026, informing me on behalf of the Secretary General that after the established deadline for nominated candidates, namely 24th of June, 2026, three national groups submitted nominations to the Secretariat. I should like to draw the Council's attention to the fact that the additional nominations relate to candidates already nominated by other national groups and whose names therefore already appear in document S/2026/525. The Legal Counsel recommended that, in accordance with established practice, I inform Council members orally on the day of the election about the decisions of the aforementioned national groups. I am also informed that the Legal Counsel made a similar recommendation to the President of the General Assembly. The nominations of the aforementioned national groups are as follows: For François Labruine, France, Cameroon, Chile, El Salvador. For Rina Lee, Singapore, Cameroon. The Security Council has before it a memorandum by the Secretary-General contained in document S/2026/524. describing the present composition of the Court and setting out the procedure to be followed in the conduct of the election. I should like to remind the Council that under Article 10, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, "Those candidates who obtain an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly and in the Security Council shall be considered as elected." The required majority in the Security Council is eight votes. In accordance with Article 10, paragraph one of the Statute of the Court, any vote of the Security Council shall be taken without any distinction between permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council. If, in the first ballot, the number of candidates obtaining an absolute majority is fewer than five, Then, pursuant to Rule 61 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council, the Council will proceed to a second ballot on the remaining vacancies. Balloting will continue in the same manner until five candidates have obtained the required majority of votes. If, on the other hand, more than five candidates obtain the required majority, According to established practice and as set forth in paragraph 16 of the Secretary-General’s memorandum, a new vote will be held on all the candidates. This practice will also apply to any subsequent ballots, if the number of candidates obtaining the absolute majority is greater than the number of vacancies remaining. The voting will be held by secret ballot. When we proceed to the vote, Members of the Council will receive a ballot containing the names of all the candidates. No withdrawal will be accepted once the Council has commenced the voting process. However, it will be possible to withdraw between ballots. Members of the Council will be requested to place an X in the box next to the names of the candidates for whom they wish to vote. Only the candidates whose names appear on the ballot are eligible for election. Therefore, votes may only be cast for candidates whose names appear on the ballot papers. I should like to remind members of paragraph 13 of the Secretary General's memorandum S/2026/524, which specifies, I quote, Each elector may vote for not more than five candidates on the first ballot, end of quote. Any ballot paper containing votes for more than five candidates will be considered invalid. If a ballot paper contains any notation other than the votes in favor of eligible candidates, those notations will be disregarded. A blank ballot paper will be considered an abstention. I should like to inform the Council members that, in accordance with established practice, the votes cast in the Security Council will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have been collected. The Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information. Only when five candidates have obtained the required majority of votes in the Security Council Shall I communicate the result to the President of the General Assembly? And I shall request the Council to remain in session, pending the receipt from the President of the General Assembly of the result of the voting in the General Assembly. The Council will now proceed to draw lots to select two delegations to serve as tellers. According to established practice, the delegations of France and the United Kingdom will not be considered to serve as tellers because candidates of their nationalities have been nominated. The names of the delegations of Pakistan and the United States have been drawn. I request each of them to appoint one of their members to serve as teller. So may I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of five members of the International Court of Justice? It is so decided. All right, so I am informed that the General Assembly will be ready to proceed with the voting process shortly. I ask the members to wait until the Assembly is ready. I am informed that the General Assembly is now ready to proceed with the voting process. I request the Conference Officer to distribute the ballot papers. Members of the Council should place an X in the boxes next to the names of the five candidates for whom they wish to vote. Members wishing to abstain should leave all boxes blank. I take it that all members of the Council have now voted, and I ask the conference officer to collect the ballot papers. All the ballot papers have been collected, and I should like to remind the Council members that, in accordance with established practice, the votes will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have been collected. The Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information. Speaker 2 [46:01]: Yeah, yeah. UNSC · President [48:57]: I have now been informed that the ballot papers have been collected in the General Assembly. The tellers will now begin the counting of the votes in the Security Council. As per practice, there will be two independent counts of the votes, one by each teller. I should like to remind the Council members that, in accordance with established practice, I shall wait for the General Assembly to complete its count before I announce the results of the voting in the Security Council. The Council will remain in session. Speaker 4 [50:58]: Thank you. Thank you. Things that's been. Good. Yeah, because I don't want to. UNSC · President [1:48:35]: Colleagues, we are restarting. So the result of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 15. Number of invalid ballots, zero. Number of valid ballots: 15. Number of abstentions: 0. Required majority: 8. So the number of votes obtained by name: Dapo Akande, 11; François Alabrin, 13; Mahmoud Defailla Ghmoud, 10. Luz del Carmen Ibanez Caranza, 0. Charles Chano Jalloh, 5. Rena Lee, 13. Phoebe Okowa, 6. Jinhyun Paik, 7. Matheo Vasquez Bermudez, 9. Accordingly, the following candidates received the required majority of votes in the Security Council: Dapo Akande, United Kingdom; François Labrunne, France; Mahmoud Dafallah Ghmoud, Jordan; Rina Lee, Singapore; and Marcelo Vázquez Bermúdez, Ecuador. I have communicated the result to the President of the General Assembly in writing. I should like to inform the members of the Council that I have just received from the President of the General Assembly the following letter, and I'll read it out: "I have the honour to inform you that the 35th plenary meeting of the General Assembly held today for the purpose of electing members of the International Court of Justice, the following candidates obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly: Dapo Akande, UK, Francois Alabrun, France, Mahmoud De Fallah Mahmoud, Jordan, Rana Lee, Singapore, Phoebe Okoa, Kenya, signed by the PGA. End of quote. As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on the same four candidates, the distinguished jurists Dapo Akande, United Kingdom; François Alabrun, France; Mahmoud Defalah Ghmoud, Jordan; and Rina Lee, Singapore, have been elected members of the International Court of Justice for a term of office of nine years beginning on 6 February 2027. I should like to congratulate them and wish them every success in the high office to which they have been elected. As a result of the voting which has taken place in the Security Council and in the General Assembly, four members of the Court have duly been elected. In accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, the Council will hold a second meeting to elect one candidate for the seat remaining to be filled. Accordingly, I shall adjourn this meeting of the Security Council and I shall immediately call to order the second meeting of the Security Council to elect one candidate by further ballot. The meeting is adjourned. The 10,262nd meeting of the Security Council is called to order. The provisional agenda for this meeting is: Election of five members of the International Court of Justice, as in documents S/2026/524, S/2026/525, S/2026/525/Add.1, S/2026/525/Add.2, and S/2026/526. The agenda is adopted. In accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Council will now hold a second meeting and will proceed to a second ballot to elect one member of the International Court of Justice. May I take it that the Council is now ready to proceed with the election of one member of the International Court of Justice? It is so decided. Okay, I am informed that the General Assembly is ready to proceed with the voting process. So I ask the conference officer to distribute the ballots. Members of the Council should place an X in the box next to the name of the one candidate for whom they wish to vote. Members wishing to abstain should leave all boxes blank. I take it that all the members of the Council have now voted, and I ask the conference officer to collect the ballot papers. So all the ballot papers have been collected, and I should like to remind Council members that in accordance with established practice, the votes will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have also been collected. The Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information. I have now been informed that the ballot papers have been collected in the General Assembly. So the tellers will now begin the counting of the votes in the Security Council. As per practice, there will be two independent counts of the ballots, one by each teller. I should like to remind Council members that, in accordance with established practice, I shall wait for the General Assembly to complete its count before I announce the results of the voting in the Security Council. The Council will remain in session. Speaker 6 [2:32:49]: Thank you. So, so. UNSC · President [2:40:01]: All right, colleagues, we will continue. So the result of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 15. Number of invalid ballots, zero. Number of valid ballots, 15. Number of abstentions, zero. Required majority, eight. So number of votes obtained. Luzdel Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, zero. Charles Cherno Jalloh, six. Phoebe Okowa, four. Jinhyun Paik, two. Matheo Vázquez Bermúdez, three. As no candidate has received the required majority of votes in the Security Council, in accordance with Article 11 of the Statute of the Court, the Council will proceed to a third ballot to elect one member of the International Court of Justice. I wish to inform the Members that the voting in the General Assembly was also inconclusive and that the Assembly will proceed to a third ballot to elect one member of the International Court of Justice. And I would like to remind the Members that each Member may vote for not more than one candidate. All candidates, except for those who have already received the required majority in the first ballot, are eligible for voting, and any ballot paper containing votes for more than one candidate will be invalid. A blank ballot paper will be considered an abstention. If a ballot paper contains any notation other than the vote in favor of an eligible candidate, those notations will be disregarded. I take that Council is now ready to proceed with the election of one member of the International Court of Justice. So, are they? They are not. All right. I will inform you when the General Assembly is ready to start. To colleagues, I have been informed by the President of the General Assembly of the withdrawal of the candidature of Charles Tchanodjallo. Therefore, Charles Tchanodjallo is no longer a candidate in this election, and his name will not appear on the ballot paper. Now, new ballot papers are being prepared and will be distributed shortly. So I will inform you when the General Assembly is ready to proceed and kindly ask members to wait until that happens. So now I'm informed that the General Assembly is ready to proceed with the voting process, and I'll ask the conference officer to distribute the ballots. And I should remind members of the Council that the members of the Council should place an X in the box next to the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote. Speaker 8 [3:03:55]: Looks like I can go. UNSC · President [3:04:23]: I take it that all members of the Council have voted now, and kindly ask the conference officer to collect the ballot papers. All the ballot papers have been collected, and I should like to remind Council members that in accordance with the established practice, the votes will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have also been collected. The Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information. Speaker 10 [3:10:13]: Yep. 14 is enough. 16. Thank you. Isn't it? It's my daughter's engagement. The whole e-mail. And it's more for the audience. It's for the two of them. And I can see how they were on 20 days. Yeah, yeah. So, Please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because obviously he's an older brother, so he cannot be. It's very mostly. Oh my God. You can't both have your candidates and also have lunch. Cables. UNSC · President [3:40:50]: Shall I go? Colleagues, I have been informed by the President of the General Assembly that the following two candidates have withdrawn while the ballots were being distributed in the Security Council, but before they were distributed in the General Assembly: Marcelo Vázquez Bermúdez and Jin Hyun Pyke. Normally, candidates cannot withdraw once the voting process has begun. However, while the voting process had begun in the Security Council, the voting process had not begun in the General Assembly. As such, the candidates were withdrawn in the General Assembly in accordance with established practice. As the present election should be held in the General Assembly and the Security Council on the basis of the same candidates on the ballot, The Security Council will have to hold its voting on the same candidates as in the General Assembly. New ballots for the third round have therefore been prepared with the following two names: Luz del Carmen Ibanez Caranza, Peru, and Phoebe Okoa, Kenya. I ask the conference officer to distribute them now. The third round ballots cast earlier in the Security Council will be destroyed. We wait for a second, please. Yes, please hold the ballots and colleagues, stay put. All right, I would like to ask the conference officer to distribute the ballots now, please. And members of the Council should place an X in the box next to the name of the candidate of whom they wish to vote. I take it that all the members of the Council have voted, and I would kindly ask the conference officer to collect the ballot papers. Now all the ballot papers have been collected, and I should like to remind Council members that in accordance with the established practice, the votes will not be counted until it has been verified that the ballot papers in the General Assembly have also been collected, and the Council will remain in session pending the receipt of that information. Thank you. All right, I have now been informed that the ballot papers have been collected in the General Assembly. So the tellers will now begin counting of the votes in the Security Council. And as per practice, there will be two independent counts of the ballots, one by each teller. And I should like to remind Council members that, in accordance with established practice, I shall wait for the General Assembly to complete its count before I announce the results of the voting in the Security Council, and the Council will remain in session. Speaker 12 [3:56:27]: Yeah. It was very Mm-hmm. Yes, but it's okay. I would too. I don't know. UNSC · UNSC · President [4:13:26]: Yes? Okay, so the result of the voting is as follows. Number of ballot papers, 15. Number of invalid ballots, zero. Number of valid ballots, 15. Number of abstentions: 2. Required majority: 8. So, the number of votes obtained: Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza: 0. Phoebe Okowa: 13. Accordingly, the candidate Phoebe Okowa received the required majority of votes in the Security Council. I have communicated the result of the vote to the President of the General Assembly in writing. And I have communicated the result of the vote to the, yeah, no, that's, yes, I did it once. And I should like to inform the members of the Council that I have received from the President of the General Assembly the following letter, and I quote: I have the honour to inform you that at the 36th plenary meeting of General Assembly held today for the purpose of electing the members of the International Court of Justice, Phoebe Okowa, Kenya, obtained an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly. End of quote. As both the Security Council and the General Assembly have agreed on the same candidate, the distinguished jurist Phoebe Okowa from Kenya, has been elected member of the International Court of Justice for a term of office of nine years, beginning on 6 February 2027. I should like to congratulate her and wish her every success in the high office to which she has been elected. And on behalf of the Council, I would like to thank the tellers for their assistance in the conduct of the elections. The Security Council has thus concluded its consideration of the item on its agenda, and the meeting is adjourned.