2006 United Nations Security Council election
The 2006 United Nations Security Council election began on 16 October 2006 during the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The elections were for five non-permanent seats on the Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2007.
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5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council | |||
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United Nations Security Council membership after the elections Permanent members Non-permanent members | |||
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| Unsuccessful candidates |
| Nepal (Asia) Guatemala (LatAm&Car) Venezuela (LatAm&Car) |
In accordance with the Security Council's rotation rules, whereby the ten non-permanent Security Council seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes, the five available seats were allocated as follows:
- One for Africa (held by Tanzania)
- One for Latin America and the Caribbean (held by Argentina)
- One for Asia (held by Japan)
- Two for the Western European and Others Group (held by Denmark and Greece)
While the first three votes were uncontroversial and even the one contested seat was settled in the first round, the race for the Latin American and Caribbean seat went on for an almost unprecedented 48 rounds of voting over the space of three weeks. In five days of ballots, the General Assembly was unable to decide between Guatemala and Venezuela, and the matter was only resolved when they both agreed to withdraw their candidacies and nominate Panama instead.
The final result of the election was that Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa were elected to serve on the Security Council for the 2007–08 period with South Africa being elected for the first time.