By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN General Assembly elected five non-permanent members on Tuesday to the Security Council (UNSC) for the 2026 - 2027 term.
Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Latvia and Liberia won elections in the General Assembly.
Bahrain received 186 votes, DRC 183, Liberia 181, Latvia 178 and Colombia 180 to replace Algeria, Guyana, Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia.
The new members will serve as non-permanent UNSC members from Jan. 1, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2027.
Colombia previously served seven times as a non-permanent member, DRC twice and Bahrain and Liberia each once.
Latvia will be serving as a non-permanent member for the first time.
In the Security Council, which has five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US -- there are also 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. Five of the non-permanent members are elected every year.
In elections conducted according to geographical distribution, two seats are allocated to the African Group, one to the Asia-Pacific Group, one to the Latin American and Caribbean Group and one to the Eastern European Group.
Candidates must receive two-thirds of the votes, which corresponds to 129 votes out of the 193-member General Assembly.