The UN General Assembly on Thursday elected Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January next year, UN news reports.
They will replace Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland, whose terms end on 31 December.
In a secret ballot, the elected countries secured the required two-thirds majority of Member States present and voting in the 193-member General Assembly.
The new members will join existing non-permanent members Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia, whose terms started on 1 January. The five permanent Council members, each wielding veto power, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Under the UN Charter, the 15-member Security Council holds primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, and all Member States are obligated to comply with its decisions.
The 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed according to four regional groupings: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Western European and other States group.
The candidates this year vied for five seats under three regional groups: two for African and Asia-Pacific (one each); one for Latin America and the Caribbean; and two for Western Europe and other States.
The newly elected members were endorsed by their respective regional groups and ran largely uncontested.
