General Assembly Session 52 meeting 56

The President

Pursuant to General Assembly decision 43/406, the Assembly will proceed to the election of 29 members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 1997.

The 29 outgoing members are: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Gabon, the Gambia, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Nicaragua, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Spain, the Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, the Syrian Arab Republic, the United States of America, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Those States are eligible for immediate re-election.

I should like to remind members that after 1 January 1998 the following States will still be members of the Governing Council: Algeria, Australia, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Samoa, Slovakia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Therefore, those 29 States are not eligible in this election.

As members know, in accordance with rule 92 of the rules of procedure,

"All elections shall be held by secret ballot. There shall be no nominations."

However, I should like to recall paragraph 16 of General Assembly decision 34/401, whereby the practice of dispensing with the secret ballot for elections to subsidiary organs when the number of candidates corresponds to the number of seats to be filled should become standard, unless a delegation specifically requests a vote on a given election.

In the absence of such a request, may I take it that the Assembly decides to proceed to the election on that basis?

The President

Regarding candidatures, I have been informed by the Chairmen of the regional groups that for the eight seats from the African States, the endorsed candidates are: Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

For the six seats from the Asian States, the endorsed candidates are: China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea and Syrian Arab Republic.

As for the three seats from the Eastern European States, the three endorsed candidates are: Belarus, Hungary and Russian Federation.

For the Latin American and Caribbean States, the five endorsed candidates for the five seats are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Cuba, Jamaica and Venezuela.

For the seven seats from the Western European and other States, the seven endorsed candidates are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Norway and the United States of America.

Since the number of candidates endorsed by the African States, the Asian States, the Eastern European States, the Latin American and Caribbean States and the Western European and other States corresponds to the number of seats to be filled in each region, may I take it that the General Assembly decides to elect those candidates as members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme for a four-year term beginning on 1 January 1998?

The President

I congratulate the States which have been elected members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme.

This concludes our consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 16.

The President

Members will recall that the General Assembly concluded the debate on this item at its 34th plenary meeting, on 17 October.

I now give the floor to the representative of Chile to introduce draft resolution A/52/L.25.