New Zealand, Spain, Turkey vie for seat on UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS

REUTERS Photo

Venezuela has taken the spotlight in this year’s campaign for coveted seats on the U.N. Security Council, but the hottest race is among New Zealand, Spain and Turkey, whose foreign ministers are in New York this week lobbying for votes.

The U.N. General Assembly’s 193 member states will vote Oct. 16 to elect five new members to the U.N.’s most powerful body and Venezuela’s socialist government is virtually certain to win because it is unopposed for the single seat allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. It will be a far different result than 2006 when the United States successfully torpedoed Venezuela’s campaign.

Angola is the only candidate for an African seat and Malaysia has no opposition for a single seat for Asia, so their victories are also virtually assured.

New Zealand, Spain and Turkey are fighting for two seats on the council.

Turkey wants to see a more democratic and politically active United Nations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said Oct. 14 during meetings with various U.N. member states to secure Turkey’s candidacy.

He met with the U.N. representatives of the Economic Community of West African States, which include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.