The 2014 United Nations Security Council election was held on 16 October 2014 during the
69th session of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
General Assembly, held at
United Nations Headquarters
The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The elections were for five non-permanent seats on the
UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2015. In accordance with the Security Council's rotation 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 were allocated as follows:
*One for the
African Group
*One for the
Asia-Pacific Group
*One for the
Latin American and Caribbean Group
*Two for the
Western European and Others Group
The Group of Western European and Other States, also known as the Western European and Other States Group or WEOG, is one of the five United Nations regional groups. It is composed of 28 member states. Most of these are in Western Europe, but ...
The five members served on the Security Council for the 2015–16 period. The countries elected were
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, and
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
.
Candidates
African Group
*
Asia-Pacific Group
* (withdrew prior to election)
*
Latin American and Caribbean Group
*
Western European and Others Group
*
*
*
Campaign
Malaysian
Permanent Representative to the UN
Datuk Hussein Haniff said: "I have been participating in all the open debates. The Malaysian mission is actively engaged in lobbying to get elected. We are the only candidate from Asia, so far, for a UNSC non-permanent seat, and need to get a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly for a non-permanent membership". Additionally, he asserted that while Malaysia was the sole candidate as of the end of 2013 for the seat, he hopes that "this will remain so until the electoral process is finalised".
Foreign Minister
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
Dato' Seri
Anifah Aman also said that "We must not take it for granted. We have to work very hard and we have to engage and meet leaders from various countries to secure the seat, but I am quite confident that Malaysia has a very good name globally".
Opinions about Venezuela's candidacy
Due to the
ongoing protests against the government within Venezuela, and the International Criminal Court's reopening of the preliminary investigation of the head of state and others on suspicions of Crimes Against Humanity, there have been objections from domestic dissidents, such as
Diego Arria, former ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations during Venezuela's last term on the Security Council and Governor of the Federal District of Caracas in the mid-1970s during the presidency of
Carlos Andrés Pérez, to having Venezuela as an elected member of the Security Council. Opposition has also come from figures such as
Hillel Neuer, head of human rights organization
UN Watch, according to whom "
ecting Venezuela to the UN Security Council is like making a pyromaniac into the fire chief".
Results
African and Asia-Pacific Groups
Latin American and Caribbean Group
Western European and Others Group
See also
*
List of members of the United Nations Security Council
Membership of the United Nations Security Council is held by the five permanent members and ten elected, non-permanent members.
Being elected requires a two-thirds majority vote from the United Nations General Assembly. Elected members hold th ...
*
Fiji and the United Nations
*
New Zealand and the United Nations
*
European Union and the United Nations
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Security Council election, 2014
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
2014 elections
2014 in international relations
October 2014