On 21 October 1996, the General Assembly elected five new members to the Security Council. Those elected were: Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya, Portugal and Sweden. Their two-year terms begin in January.
To win a seat, a country needs a two-thirds majority of the votes of those present for the secret balloting. Seats are allocated on a regional basis.
The African seat, which went to Kenya, was the only one that was not contested. Costa Rica contested with Bolivia for the Latin America seat. Australia, Sweden and Portugal battled over two seats allocated for "Western Europe and Other." Japan and India tussled over the Asian seat.
The three-way European contest saw Sweden win on the first ballot, with 153 votes. Portugal and Australia were forced into a runoff, which Portugal won by a vote of 124 to 57. Australia's defeat, after a vigorous campaign and in spite of a popular ambassador, could be explained by its firm commitment to nuclear disarmament, a position strenuously opposed by the Permanent Members of the Council. The Indian defeat may also owe something to this factor.
According to widespread reports, the election was unusually heated and was accompanied by various kinds of pressures and favors. An account in the New York Times referred to "intensive maneuvering" in the election campaign and went on to describe the ambiance: All around New York in recent weeks, port wine has flowed, breakfasts blossomed to complement the diplomatic lunches and dinners, and a lot of envoys enjoyed expense-paid trips to distant capitals. Rumors abounded of heavy-handed electioneering, particularly in the contest between India and Japan. The respected International Documents Review pointed out that the Asian seat was especially hotly contested because previous understandings about sub-regional rotation gave the seat to South Asia in this round. But Japan, hoping to garner a Permanent Seat on the Council, saw the election as an opportunity to assert its muscle and underline its claim. IDR had this to say about the Japanese tactics: Its munificently funded campaign has lavished entertainment on delegates and, by some accounts, money, cars and other goodies as well. The UN ambassadors and Foreign Ministers of some 60 or 70 developing countries were taken on all-expenses paid junkets to Tokyo last sumer. According to corridor talk (the veracity of which is impossible to gauge) each inviteee is said to have got $10,000 for "expenses" and the promise of three times that amount if Japan made it onto the Council. "It seems they've also promised dams, and factories all over" says a Western delegate, confirming that among diplomats the magnitude of Japan's campaign is well known. Japan won its two-thirds majority on the first ballot, by a vote of 142-40. Most observers thought the vote would be closer. Evidently, Japan's investment paid off handsomely. But what does this say about democratic process in the UN? Perhaps next time, the UN should dispatch election monitors (as it has done to so many countries) to make sure that its own elections are conducted in a fair and democratic manner!
