The 1974 United Nations Security Council election was held on 11 October 1974 during the Twenty-ninth session of the
United Nations General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...
, held at
United Nations Headquarters in
New York City. The General Assembly elected
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
,
Italy,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, and
Tanzania, as the five new non-permanent members of the
UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 1975. Both Guyana and Tanzania were elected to the council for the first time.
Rules
The Security Council has 15 seats, filled by five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Each year, half of the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms. A sitting member may not immediately run for re-election.
In accordance with the rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the
various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes, the five available seats are allocated as follows:
*One for
African
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
countries (held by
Kenya)
*One for countries from the Asian Group (now called the
Asia-
Pacific Group
"Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group"
''Radio New Zealand International'', 2011-08-31.) (held by Indonesia)
*One for Latin America and the Caribbean (held by Peru)
*Two for the Western European and Others Group (held by Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and Austria)
To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.
Candidates
As Chairman of the Latin American Group, Mr. Villagran Kramer of Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
stated that the candidacy of Guyana will be supported unanimously by the whole group.[U.N. General Assembly, 29th session. ]
Official Record of Two Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty-sixth Meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, On Thursday, 11 October 1974.'' (A/PV.2266) 11 October 1974
Result
The election was managed by then-President of the United Nations General Assembly
The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly.
Election
...
Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria. The United Nations had 139 member states at this time (for a timeline of UN membership, see Enlargement of the United Nations). Delegates were to write the names of the five member states they wished elected on the ballot papers. Voting was conducted on a single ballot. Ballots containing more states from a certain region than seats allocated to that region were invalidated.
See also
* List of members of the United Nations Security Council
* Japan and the United Nations
References
External links
UN Document A/59/881
Note Verbale from the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica containing a record of Security Council elections up to 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Security Council election, 1974
1974 elections
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
Non-partisan elections
1974 in international relations