The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council have begun voting to elect five judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world body’s principal judicial organ.
The two UN organs are holding separate but concurrent elections on Tuesday to fill five positions on the 15-member court.
Nine candidates are contesting the available seats, with each required to secure an absolute majority in both the General Assembly and the Security Council to be elected.
A candidate must obtain at least 97 votes in the 193-member General Assembly and eight votes in the 15-member Security Council.
The voting is conducted independently by the two bodies, meaning a candidate’s success in one does not guarantee election by the other.
Five seats, nine candidates
The five judges elected will begin their nine-year terms on February 6, 2027.
The candidates include jurists from Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Among them are Nigeria’s candidate, Taoheed Olufemi Elias; Kenya’s Phoebe Okowa; and Sierra Leone’s Charles Chernor Jalloh.
Other contenders include Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, François Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Rena Lee of Singapore, Paik Jin-Hyun of South Korea and Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez of Ecuador.
The ICJ settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on questions referred to it by authorised UN bodies.
Voting may require further rounds
The election may continue through additional rounds if the candidates do not secure the required majorities or if the two UN organs elect different sets of candidates.
The process is designed to ensure that the judges selected have the necessary legal qualifications and that the court reflects the world’s principal legal systems and regions.
The ICJ is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and is distinct from the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals accused of serious international crimes.
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