In 21 rounds of secret balloting this afternoon and evening, the first resumed session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) completed its work by electing Rene Blattmann (Bolivia), Mauro Politi (Italy), Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa), and Claude Jorda (France) as judges to the Court.

A total of 18 judges, chosen from among 43 candidates -- including 10 women -- were elected during one meeting spanning the past four days. The 18 judges will be sworn in during a ceremony on 11 March at the ICC headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. The role of the judges, and that of the Prosecutor who is expected to be elected at the Assembly's next session in April, are key to shaping the Court and making it an independent, fair and effective institution to deal with crimes of the most grievous nature committed by individuals. The treaty establishing the Court, which entered into force on 1 July 2002, has thus far been ratified by 88 countries. Eighty-five States were eligible to vote in the balloting this week.

The judges are: Ms. Elizabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica); Mr. Rene Blattmann (Bolivia); Ms. Maureen Harding Clark (Ireland); Ms. Fatoumata Dembele Diarra (Mali); Mr. Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom); Mr. Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago); Mr. Claude Jorda (France); Mr. Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany); Mr. Philippe Kirsch (Canada); Mr. Erkki Kourula (Finland); Ms. Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana); Mr. Georghios Pikis (Cyprus); Ms. Navanethem Pillay (South Africa); Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy); Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa); Mr. Sang-hyun Song (Republic of Korea); Ms. Sylvia Helena de Figueiredo Steiner (Brazil); and Ms. Anita Usacka (Latvia).

In the first four rounds of balloting, 11 judges, including six women, were elected. According to the rules of procedure, having failed to elect the 18 required judges, the Assembly then discontinued the complex voting procedure it had used in the first four rounds.

That procedure took into account the need for representation of the principal legal systems of the world; equitable geographical distribution; and fair representation of female and male judges. Representatives were required to vote for at least three candidates from the Group of African States; two from Asian States; two from Eastern European States; three from Latin American and Caribbean States; and three from Western European and Other States. Representatives were further required to vote for at least six male and at least six female candidates.

The ballot contained two lists of candidates. List A candidates had established competence in criminal law, while List B candidates had competence in relevant areas of international law. At least nine candidates had to be elected from List A and at least five judges from List B. However, no more than 13 candidates from list A and no more than nine candidates from List B would be considered elected.

In the end, seven of the elected judges were women. Ten candidates were elected from List A, and eight from List B. Three judges came from the Group of African States, three from the Group of Asian States, one from the Group of Eastern European States, four from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and seven from the Group of Western European and Other

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