Updated on 23 October 2014

Chapter 3:  THE PEOPLE

Section 3:  Non-permanent members

 

Scheduling the election of non-permanent Council members

 

The General Assembly, in its resolution 68/307, adopted on 18 September 2014, decided ‘to conduct the elections of the non-permanent members of the Security Council . . . about six months before the elected members assume their responsibilities, beginning at the seventieth session’.  Therefore, from 2016 onwards, the non-permanent members of the Council are expected to be elected by 30 June of each year.  Previously, the elections of non-permanent members on the Council were usually held in October.  One advantage of holding these elections earlier in the year is that elected members will now have three additional months to prepare for their Council membership through training and bolstering their staff.  In addition, the hectic campaigning which takes place for Council seats will no longer coincide with, and detract from, high-level meetings convened by the General Assembly in the autumn.  (This information updates page 130 of the book.)