Panama Elected to Non-Permanent UN Security
Council Seat
On November 7, the UN General Assembly elected
Panama to a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Panama
was chosen by Latin American and Caribbean nations as a compromise candidate to
end the stalemated contest for the seat between Guatemala and Venezuela. In the
48th round of ballotting, Panama received 164 votes
in the 192-member General Assembly, more than the 120 needed to win the seat.
Panama begins its term on January 1, 2007, replacing Argentina. Venezuela received
11 votes, Guatemala four votes, and Barbados one vote. There were nine
abstentions.
The election comes after the foreign ministers
of both Guatemala and Venezuela decided to withdraw their candidatures at a
meeting in New York and proposed Panama as an alternative to the Group of Latin
American and Caribbean States. Throughout the earlier voting Guatemala
maintained its lead over Venezuela, except in one tie vote, but was never able
to reach the necessary two-thirds majority to serve as the region's member for
the two-year term.. In the 47th round of voting on October 30, when 122 votes
would have been enough to secure victory, Guatemala received 101 votes,
Venezuela 78, and Barbados, Ecuador and Uruguay received one vote each. There
were seven abstentions.
The American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said that it is the traditional position of the United States not to interfere in the internal discussions of the regional groups within the United Nations. However, he admitted to U.S. interference in the election between Guatemala and Venezuela, calling it "extraordinary" and necessary "because of the risk of disruption to the Council that we saw Venezuela bringing." Venezuela's U.N. ambassador, Francisco Arias Cardenas, said that he did not consider the outcome a defeat. He said that there was a lesson to be learned in the 46 rounds of balloting between Venezuela and Guatemala - that the General Assembly will not accept the imposition of the big countries. The U.S., with all the power and authority at its disposal, was unable to get a sufficient number of countries to support its designated and preferred candidate.
More than a few political commentators have speculated that many more countries would have supported Venezuela's candidacy for the Security Council if Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had not characterized U.S. President George Bush as the devil in his speech to the opening session of the UN General Assembly. Whether this is true or not, it is likely that most member states voted according to their national and international interests, and consistent with their overall relationships with Venezuela, Guatemala and the U.S.. Chile and Ecuador, for example, publicly abstained from voting because they considered the election divisive for the region. It is almost certain that they would have abstained no matter how Chávez phrased his opposition to U.S. imperialism at the United Nations.
On the other hand, the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) voted for Venezuela. This is likely because of the positions Guatamala has taken against the interests of Caricom members, as well as its well-known violations of human rights.. Venezuela, on the other hand, has been a long and committed partner to the Caricom region and its economic support to these countries has been strengthened in recent years by the initiatives of President Chávez.
On October 16, the General Assembly, following
an agreed geographic allocation, elected Belgium, Indonesia, Italy and South
Africa to serve as the other new non-permanent members of the Security Council,
replacing Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania when their terms end on December
31. The Council's five other non-permanent members, whose terms end on 31
December 2007, are Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. The five permanent
members, the only ones with veto power, are China, France, Russia, the United
Kingdom and the United States.