U.N. General Assembly President holds consultations on ICJ elections

U.N. General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak has held several rounds of consultations at the U.N. headquarters in New York ahead of next week’s crucial election to break the deadlock between India and the U.K. for the last seat at the International Court of Justice.

India’s nominee Dalveer Bhandari and Britain’s Christopher Greenwood, who are seeking re-election at the Hague-based ICJ, are locked in a major battle as 11 rounds of elections held in both the U.N. General Assembly and U.N. Security Council have failed to yield results.

The UNGA and the UNSC are scheduled to meet on the afternoon of November 20 for the 12th round of voting. The meeting will be presided over by Mr. Lajcak.

Under the election procedures, the balloting would be held simultaneously by the Assembly and the Council.

In the successive rounds of elections spread over two days in the last two weeks, Justice Bhandari, 70, enjoyed nearly two-thirds majority in the



193-member Assembly.

Justice Greenwood, 62, received nine votes as against five by Justice Bhandari in the Security Council. As per ICJ rules, the candidates need to gain majority in both the General Assembly and Security Council to be declared elected.

The Hague-based ICJ has 15 judges on its bench. Elections for one-third of its judges are held every three years. While four of the ICJ judges were elected early this month when they received the required majority of votes in both the General Assembly (193 members) and the 15-member Security Council.

Earlier on November 17, Mr. Lajcak’s spokesperson Brenden Varma told reporters about the meetings.

“The president will meet today with the president of the Security Council, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi of Italy, as well as the UN Office of Legal Affairs and the UN Department for General Assembly and Conference Management,” he told reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York.