The Rag Blog: The Voting Is Over (at the UN)

07 November 2006

The Voting Is Over (at the UN)

Panama Wins Seat on U.N. Security Council
By EDITH M. LEDERER, AP

UNITED NATIONS (Nov. 7) - Panama won a seat on the U.N. Security Council on the 48th ballot Tuesday after U.S.-backed Guatemala and Venezuela, led by leftist anti-American President Hugo Chavez, dropped out to end a deadlock.

Panama got 164 votes in the 192-member U.N. General Assembly, more than the 120 needed to win a two-year term starting Jan. 1 on the U.N.'s most powerful body. Venezuela got 11 votes, Guatemala 4 votes, and Barbados 1 vote.

General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, who announced the results, said she was "delighted" that all five new members of the Security Council had now been chosen - Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.

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