Chapter 6:   VOTING

Section 10:   Non-participation in the vote

 

Algeria’s non-participation in Western Sahara vote is first such case since 2001

 

On 31 October 2024, the Security Council had before it a draft resolution prepared by the United States, as penholder, to renew the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The draft resolution was put to a vote following votes on two amendments proposed by Algeria, both of which would have added specific human rights elements to the text. The first draft amendment failed to be adopted because the six votes it received fell short of the nine votes required for adoption. The second draft amendment similarly failed to be adopted because it received only five votes in favour.[1] 

 

When the unchanged United States draft was then put to a vote, it was adopted as resolution 2756 (2024) by twelve affirmative votes, with none against, and two abstentions (Mozambique and the Russian Federation).[2] Algeria did not participate in the vote.

 

Non-participation in a vote occurs when a delegation is present at a meeting at which a vote is taken, but does not indicate that it is voting affirmatively, negatively, or abstaining. While non-participation in a vote in any principal organ is not specifically provided for in the UN Charter, neither does the Charter preclude it. Non-participation in votes occurs regularly in the General Assembly,[3] but since 1982 has been very rare in the Security Council.

 

The first instance of non-participation in a Security Council vote occurred as early as 1947, and by 1971 there had been nine such cases. Then, during the ten-year period after the People’s Republic of China took up the seat of China on the Security Council in 1971, that government refrained from participating in 73 votes.[4] During the same time period, other Council members which chose not to participate in one or more Security Council votes included Iraq, Libya, Benin, Byelorussia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[5]

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Council members not participating in a vote have variously explained their decision as 1) a form of protest; 2) an alternative to an obligatory abstention under Article 27(3) when a member was not convinced that this provision fully applied; or 3) a way for a permanent member to indicate firm opposition without blocking an adoption by casting a veto. Non-participation can also indicate that a Council member finds a matter too politically sensitive for it to cast a vote. For example, in 1990, the representative of Yemen, then holding the “Arab swing seat” on the Council, appeared to suggest that he refrained from a vote on Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait because of his delegation’s “sorrow and embarrassment” over a problem that involved two Arab countries.

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Before Algeria’s non-participation on 31 October 2024, the last case of non-participation in a vote by a Council member took place in 2001. In that instance, the representative of Ukraine refrained from voting on a draft resolution on the Middle East. In advance of an anticipated United States veto, Ukraine’s representative stated that “without the necessary unanimity of the members of the Council”, his delegation did not believe the draft resolution would either achieve its goal of protecting Palestinian civilians or send any positive signal to the peoples in the region.[6]

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It was early established that non-participation by a permanent member would have the same impact as an abstention, i.e., that it would not block adoption of a draft resolution. The last time a permanent member refrained from participating in a vote occurred in 1999 in connection with the Iraq Oil for Food Programme. While the draft resolution ostensibly was for the purpose of adopting a short-term extension of the programme, France viewed the text as in fact aimed at other considerations. Accordingly, the French representative stated, there was “only one reasonable position to take: not to participate in the voting”.[7]

 

At the 31 October 2024 adoption meeting on the Western Sahara, the Algerian representative explained that his delegation’s decision not to participate in the vote stemmed from two principal factors. The first was “the attitude of the penholder”, and its “flagrant” disregard of guidelines set out in the Council’s presidential notes S/2017/507 and S/2023/945. From the latter document, he quoted paragraphs (c)(i) and (ii) by which the Council members

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“encourage penholders and co-penholders to conduct negotiations in an inclusive and respectful manner by:

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“(i) Abiding by objectivity and impartiality during the drafting and negotiation process and prioritizing forging consensus, whenever possible, and promoting the unity of the Council;

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“(ii) Ensuring, as early as possible in the drafting exercise, an exchange of information among all Council members and engaging in timely consultations with all Council members”.

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The Algerian representative then recounted ways in which discussions over the text, in his view, failed to meet these standards and to give due heed to views expressed by other Council members.

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Algeria’s second set of reasons for not participating in the vote related to the draft resolution’s substantive content. In this connection, the Algerian representative contended that in specific ways, the draft failed sufficiently to reflect relevant principles of international humanitarian law and the established right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.

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For his part, the United States representative defended his delegation’s “sincere efforts” to lead inclusive negotiations on the draft, but focused primarily on the resolution’s content, calling it “principled and pragmatic”.

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Overall, because it has been so rarely used in recent decades, non-participation in a vote in the Security Council garners more attention than an abstention, and possibly more even than a negative vote. Non-participation implies that in the view of that Council member, some unusual factors are at issue, and this therefore tends to focus more interest on the reasons given by the member for taking such an unusual step.

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The Security Council takes up the question of Western Sahara every six months – in April and October of each year. By resolution 2756 (2024), the mandate of MINURSO has been renewed for the customary one-year period, and will now expire on 31 October 2025. Accordingly, unless events on the ground cause the Security Council to meet at an earlier date, it will be in April and October 2025, while Algeria is still on the Council, that the Security Council will next be considering the situation in the Western Sahara. It remains to be seen whether Algeria’s decision not to participate in the 2024 vote – and the attention it has attracted – will alter in any significant way how the Council takes up this matter, and specifically how the United States, as penholder, conducts negotiations over the 2025 draft resolution on renewing the MINURSO mandate.

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(This update supplements pages 350 to 352 of the book.)

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[1] Those voting for the first proposed amendment were Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Slovenia and Switzerland. All of these Council members, except Switzerland, also voted in favour of the second proposed amendment. There were no negative votes on either amendment (S/PV.9771).

[2] The prior year (before Algeria’s present Council term began), when the Council adopted resolution 2703 (2023) renewing the MINURSO mandate, the vote was thirteen members in favour, with Mozambique and the Russian Federation abstaining.

[3] In the Assembly, however, when no vote is shown for a Member State in a final tally, it is not distinguished whether that State did not participate or was absent.

[4] During this period, the People’s Republic initially followed a policy of not voting on matters arising from decisions taken when the Republic of China occupied the Chinese seat on the Council. It also refrained from participating in most votes on peacekeeping, as well as on other issues such as the Middle East and Southern Africa.

[5] Iraq refrained from participating in 13 votes, Libya in eight, Benin in seven, and Byelorussia in four. France did not participate in the vote on the application of the Comoros for UN membership. The United Kingdom did not participate in one vote on Southern Rhodesia, and the United States did not participate in a vote on Lebanon. (See page 351 of the book.)

[6] S/PV.4305.

[7] S/PV.4077.

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