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3rd LD Writethru: Italy, the Netherlands propose to share Security Council non-permanent membership

Xinhua, June 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Italy and the Netherlands on Tuesday proposed to share one Security Council seat for non-permanent members, splitting up a two-year term as one country serving for one year.

The two-year term will start from Jan. 1, 2017 and will conclude at the end of 2018. The two countries have proposed that Italy will take the seat in 2017 and the Netherlands will serve at the council in year 2018, according to the proposal.

The General Assembly has voted to elect five new non-permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday. A two-thirds majority of 129 votes is needed for a member state to be elected.

The Netherlands and Italy, competing for a seat representing the regional group of Western European and other states, put forward the proposal after a fifth round of voting concluded with a tie result with 95 votes for each country.

The regional group of Western European and other states has decided to discuss the proposal on Wednesday.

In earlier voting, neither of the countries garnered enough votes to be elected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, the most powerful body of the UN.

Bert Koenders, foreign minister of the Netherlands, told the General Assembly that the tie result has sent a signal that "you appreciate both countries in representing you in the Security Council."

While Paolo Gentiloni, Italian foreign minister, said he hopes that the proposal can deliver a "message of unity" between the two European countries.

Earlier on Tuesday, the General Assembly has elected Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Sweden as non-permanent members of the Security Council, which will start their terms at the beginning of next year.

The newly-elected members will replace the retiring members of Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela. They will join the other five non-permanent members of the Security Council, namely Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

The UN Security Council consists of five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly. Five non-permanent members are elected every year to join the five permanent and veto-wielding members of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

This year, the elections, which were previously held in October, have been moved to June in a bid to leave more time for elected member states to prepare for their terms.

According to the rules, the Security Council non-permanent seats should be distributed as five from African and Asian states; one from Eastern European states; two from Latin American states and two from Western European and other states. Endit