UN considers holding in-person voting for Security Council

The United Nations is exploring the possibility of holding an in-person vote at UN headquarters in New York to elect non-permanent members of the Security Council, as Ireland seeks a seat on the influential international body.

According to a document circulated by the president of the General Assembly late last week, one option envisages representatives of the UN’s 193 members physically visiting a designated venue to cast their ballots.

Countries would be grouped into different time slots to ensure that social distancing rules apply.

Ireland is competing with Norway and Canada for two seats on the 15-member Security Council for the two-year term beginning in January 2021, with a vote scheduled to take place in just over six weeks’ time.

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But coronavirus has severely disrupted the work of the UN, which has its headquarters in New York, the US city that is most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN has postponed virtually all planned events in June such as the high-level dialogue on desertification and a plenary meeting on the situation in Guam.

However, it is expected that key elections – including the election of non-permanent members of the Security Council – will go ahead as planned.

Though June 17th will likely remain as the date for the vote, the process could take more than one day, particularly if a second round of voting takes place.

A two-thirds majority of the General Assembly would need to vote, as stipulated in the election rules.

E-voting mechanism

Another option under consideration is the development of an e-voting mechanism, but it is understood that this process could take longer than six weeks to set up.

The president of the General Assembly discussed the issue with the chair of the regional groups late last week who are now consulting with member states.

Unlike other votes at the UN, the election of non-permanent members of the Security Council is done by secret ballot.

Five seats are up for grabs in June for the 2021-2022 session.

While Ireland is competing for one of two seats in the “western Europe and other states” category, a representative for Africa, the Latin America and Caribbean region, and Asia Pacific will also be chosen.

Ireland has held a seat on the Security Council three times in its history. The last occasion was in 2001 in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The 15-member Security Council has yet to make a strong statement on the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed more than 240,000 lives across the world.

A French-backed draft resolution calling for an international response to the crisis and a cessation of hostilities across the world has stalled, amid tensions between two permanent members of the council – China and the United States.

The Trump administration has blamed China for the outbreak of the virus which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

It has also suspended funding for the World Health Organisation, a UN agency, accusing the body of failing to act decisively in the early stage of the crisis and for being too “China-centric”.