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Italy, the Netherlands to split two-year term as UNSC non-permanent members

NEW YORK, June 30 (KUNA) -- UN General Assembly elected this afternoon, Italy with 179 votes as a non-permanent members for the Security Council for a one-year term, to be succeeded by the Netherlands for another year.
The Member states elected earlier this week Sweden, Ethiopia, Bolivia and Kazakhstan for 2017-2018 term, and had to postpone the one remaining seat of the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) after five rounds.
The WEOG met on Thursday and agreed to a split the term asking the Netherland to withdraw from the candidacy, and Italy obtain the votes. By the end of the first year, Italy is to leave the Council, and the Netherlands to take its place on the same seat.
Member states came together in the GA hall to elect one seat for the African Group, one seat for the Group of Asia and the Pacific small island developing States, one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and two seats for the Western European and Others Group.
Under an amendment to the UN Charter that went into effect in 1965, the UNGA increased the number of non-permanent members in the Security Council from 6 to 10, with five new members elected for a two-year period every year. This brought the membership of Security Council, the primary UN body tasked with the maintenance of international peace and security matters, to 10 non-permanent members, who sit alongside the five permanent, veto-wielding members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. (end) moa.ibi