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UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001044 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNGA
SUBJECT: UNGA: UN 63RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS FIVE JUDGES 
TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: The 63rd General Assembly held elections 
November 6 for five vacancies on the International Court of 
Justice (ICJ) for terms of office to begin February 6, 2009. 
The Security Council held simultaneous elections, per the 
Statute of the Court.  The Statute requires an absolute 
majority, in the case of the General Assembly, 97 votes, and 
in the case of the Security Council, 8 votes.  To be 
successful, a candidate must be elected in both the Security 
Council and the General Assembly elections.  Before the 
fourth and final General Assembly poll, Guinea Bissau, 
Cameroon and the Philippines raised numerous points of order. 
 The candidates elected to the ICJ were: Antonio Augusto 
Cancado Trindade from Brazil, Christopher John Greenwood from 
the UK, Ronny Abraham from France, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh 
from Jordan, and Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia.  End 
Summary. 
 
RESULTS FROM THE FIRST BALLOT 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) In the first General Assembly meeting of the day (the 
39th Meeting), 191 members cast votes in the first ballot. 
The following are the General Assembly balloting results in 
order: 
 
      Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade from Brazil - 163 votes 
      Christopher John Greenwood from the UK - 157 votes 
      Ronny Abraham from France - 152 votes 
      Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh from Jordan - 151 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 106 votes 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 92 votes 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 81 votes 
      Sayeman Bula-Bula from the DRC - 23 votes 
 
In the first ballot of the UN Security Council, candidates 
received the following numbers of votes: 
 
      Christopher John Greenwood from the UK - 15 votes 
      Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade from Brazil - 14 votes 
      Ronny Abraham from France - 13 votes 
      Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh from Jordan - 13 votes 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 8 votes 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 6 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 5 votes 
      Sayeman Bula-Bula from the DRC - 1 vote 
 
The candidates from Brazil, the UK, France and Jordan 
received an absolute majority in both the General Assembly 
and the Security Council and thus, were declared elected by 
the President of the Security Council and the President of 
the General Assembly (PGA). 
 
¶3.  (U) Because the General Assembly and the Security Council 
did not give an absolute majority to the same fifth 
candidate, additional voting was required.  In accordance 
with Article 11 of the Statute of the ICJ, the PGA closed the 
39th meeting and immediately opened the 40th meeting in order 
to hold additional polls for the remaining vacancy.  The 
President of the Security Council also declared the 
candidates from Brazil, the UK, France, and Jordan to be 
elected. The Security Council concluded its meeting and 
immediately opened the next meeting for a second ballot. 
 
RESULTS FROM THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY BALLOTS 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Since the candidates from Brazil, UK, France and 
Jordan had been elected; they were removed from the ballots 
in the 40th meeting.  In the General Assembly, 192 Members 
cast ballots in the 2nd poll.  The results were as follows 
(in order): 
 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 74 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 71 votes 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 44 votes 
      Sayeman Bula-Bula from the DRC - 3 votes 
 
As no candidate received an absolute majority (97 votes), the 
GA suspended the 40th meeting to reconvene after lunch. 
 
¶5.  (U) Upon reconvening the 40th meeting, the GA held a 3rd 
 
 
ballot.  188 Members cast ballots in the 3rd poll.  The 
results were as follows (in order): 
 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 90 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 67 votes 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 29 votes 
      Sayeman Bula-Bula from the DRC - 2 votes 
 
As no candidate received an absolute majority after the 3rd 
poll, the PGA opened the 4th ballot.  The DRC took the floor 
and withdrew its candidate from the ballot. 
 
ARGUMENTS ON POINTS OF ORDER 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) After the DRC's announcement, Guinea Bissau raised a 
point of order asking under which article would the General 
Assembly proceed to a fourth ballot.  In response, the 
Secretariat said that Article 5 of the Statute allowed a 
candidate to be withdrawn as long as all national groups that 
had made the nominations agreed.  As the DRC was the only 
State that nominated Sayeman Bula-Bula, the withdrawal was 
accepted.  Thereafter, the representative from Guinea Bissau 
read out a provision in Article 12 which allows for the 
convening of a joint conference between the Security Council 
and the General Assembly, if, after the third meeting, a 
candidate had not been chosen.  To this the Secretariat 
representative responded that the General Assembly was still 
only in the second meeting (40th meeting) of the day.  He 
explained that Article 11 states that if the Security Council 
and General Assembly have not elected enough candidates after 
the second meeting a third meeting should be convened. 
However, the Secretariat clarified that the General Assembly 
had not after two ballots (in the 40th meeting) given an 
absolute majority to any one candidate and that therefore, 
would continue balloting until the required number of 
candidates obtain the required majority. 
 
¶7.  (U) Cameroon added to the debate on points of order by 
demanding of the PGA, "Are we in the 3rd or the 2nd session?" 
 The General Assembly broke to allow the Secretariat to 
consult the records.  Upon reconvening the meeting, the PGA 
gave the floor to the Secretariat who read out the transcript 
of the morning meetings.  He stated that the PGA has 
concluded the 39th meeting of the General Assembly and opened 
the 40th meeting.  Subsequently, the breaks had only been 
suspensions and the PGA had not opened the 41st meeting.  The 
40th meeting would not conclude until the General Assembly 
had given an absolute majority to a candidate for the 
remaining vacancy.  Guinea Bissau continued to insist that 
the General Assembly was in its 3rd meeting of the day. 
 
¶8.  (U) The Philippines raised a point of order regarding the 
authenticity of the election results in the 39th meeting, 
since only four candidates had been elected and not all five 
simultaneously.  However, the results of the morning were 
sustained.  The Philippines also stated support for the 
Secretariat's response to Cameroon and Guinea Bissau, 
pointing out the difference between a "meeting" and a 
"ballot." 
 
¶9.  (U) Guinea Bissau took the floor and demanded an opinion 
from the Legal Counsel.  After a brief recess, the 
Secretariat representative read out the opinion of the Legal 
Counsel as contained in document A/63/186.  Guinea Bissau and 
Cameroon requested the Legal Counsel or a staff member to 
come in person to answer to the General Assembly on this 
point of order.  Benin raised again the point of order on 
whether the DRC was authorized to withdraw its candidate. 
The Secretariat answered these questions again and the GA 
began the balloting process. 
 
RESULTS OF THE 4TH BALLOT IN THE GA AND OF 
THE 2ND BALLOT IN THE UNSC 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (U) When the 4th ballot was held, 189 Members cast 
votes.  The results were as follows (in order): 
 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 116 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 52 votes 
 
 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 21 votes 
 
The results of the ballot in the second meeting of the 
Security Council were as follows: 
 
      Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia - 8 votes 
      Miriam Defensor Santiago from Philippines - 2 votes 
      Maurice Kamto from Cameroon - 5 votes 
      Sayeman Bula-Bula from the DRC - 0 votes 
 
Since the candidate from Somalia received an absolute 
majority in both elections, the PGA and declared the 
candidate from Somalia to be elected, and the President of 
the Security Council did the same. 
 
A FINAL OBJECTION FROM CAMEROON 
------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) After the PGA announced the results, Cameroon 
requested that its objection be read into the minutes.  It 
had requested the Legal Counsel to come, but the General 
Assembly did not fulfill the request.  Cameroon added that in 
the final ballot, the General Assembly and the Security 
Council ballots were different. (Sayeman Bula-Bula was listed 
on the 2nd and final ballot in the Security Council.) 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment: The UK's Christopher Greenwood made an 
impressive showing, particularly by receiving fifteen votes 
in the first round of balloting at the Security Council, the 
only candidate to do so.  Although the fifth slot is 
informally understood to be an African seat, disarray within 
the African group had the potential to jeopardize that 
standing, given a repeatedly strong showing by the 
Philippines' candidate.  End comment. 
Khalilzad