The UN General Assembly on Tuesday remained deadlocked after
total 47 rounds of voting in the contest to fill a non-permanent
seat on the Security Council for the Latin American and Caribbean
region.
On the fifth day of voting, the Assembly voted 6 rounds and
reached total 47 times since Oct. 16 to choose a candidate to serve
as the region's council member for a two-year term starting Jan. 1,
2007, and replacing Argentina.
In the latest round, when 122 votes would have been enough to
secure victory, Guatemala obtained 101 votes, Venezuela received
78, Barbados, Ecuador and Jamaica received one respectively.
However, none of them got the necessary two-thirds majority.
Guatemala has led in every round so far, with the exception of
the sixth round on the first day of voting, when the two countries
were tied.
Balloting is scheduled to resume Wednesday afternoon, and will
continue until a state from the region achieves the required
majority.
There is no limit to the number of rounds of voting and in
1979-80 there were a record 155 ballots before Mexico was chosen
from the Latin American and Caribbean Group to serve a two-year
term.
Belgium, Indonesia, Italy and South Africa were elected during
the first round on Oct. 16 to serve as non-permanent members on the
council. They will replace Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania when
their terms end on Dec. 31.
The council's five other non-permanent members, whose terms end
on Dec. 31, 2007, are Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia.
The five permanent members, which are the only members with veto
power when voting, are China, France, Russia, Britain and the
United States.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2006)
