UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia were elected non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on Thursday for a two-year term.

 

The newly elected members will take up their new responsibilities on Jan. 1, 2025, and serve till Dec. 31, 2026.

 

The five candidates were running unopposed.

 

The newly elected members will replace the outgoing non-permanent members of Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland.

 

A candidate must obtain the support of two-thirds of the UN member states present and voting at the General Assembly session in order to secure a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, regardless of whether the candidacy is contested or not. This means that a minimum of 129 positive votes are required to win a seat if all 193 member states are present and voting. Member states that abstain are considered not voting.

 

In Thursday's voting, Panama won 183 votes, one vote shy of unanimous support of all member states that were present and voting, according to results announced by Dennis Francis, the current General Assembly president, who presided over the voting process.

 

The other four countries also won easily.

 

All the five newly elected members have previously served on the Security Council. Pakistan had served 7 times, Panama 5 times, Denmark 4 times, Greece twice, and Somalia once.

 

The Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent ones: Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States. The 10 non-permanent seats of the council are allocated by geographic region, with five replaced each year.

 

The five newly elected countries represent Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western European and others groups. The group of Eastern Europe is not contesting this year, as its one seat, currently held by Slovenia through 2025, come up for election every other year.

 

The Security Council is considered the most powerful body of the United Nations. The council, tasked to maintain international peace and security, can make legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorize the use of force.