Finance
India has been elected to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for a three-year term beginning next year, with a pledge to advocate development, receiving 181 of the 187 valid votes cast.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar assured in an X post following Wednesday’s election that “India remains committed to championing development issues and continue working to strengthen the ECOSOC.”
He praised the countries that voted for India for their “overwhelming support and reposing their trust in us,” and commended India’s UN Mission diplomats on assuring the election.
This will be India’s at least 18th term in the council, often known as ECOSOC, having previously served four terms from 2008 to 2020.
ECOSOC is the main UN body with representation for all its 193 members that deals with sustainable development and economic matters.
ECOSOC has 54 members, a third of whom complete their terms every three years, and 18 seats came up for election.
The seats are distributed by region, and four seats for the Asia Pacific region were up for election this year.
China, whose term will end this year, ran for re-election and won with 180 votes.
Lebanon and Turkmenistan, each of which got 183, were also elected.
They were the only candidates in the race, and all were endorsed by the regional group.
Ukraine outperformed Russia in the East Europe group, forcing the latter into a runoff after failing to win one of the region’s three seats on the first round.
Because the area did not present a slate for the three seats, there were five candidates.
Ukraine and Croatia were chosen in the first round with 130 and 140 votes, respectively, winning two-thirds of the vote.
Russia, with 108 votes, was forced to compete in a runoff against its ally Belarus, which garnered 96 votes, after North Macedonia was eliminated with 59.
Twenty-three countries abstained in the runoff, lowering the two-thirds barrier, and Russia won by 115 votes to Belarus’ 46.
Because Italy and Liechtenstein withdrew from their seats, the United States and Germany won ECOSOC by-elections.
India will join its neighbours Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in the ECOSOC.
Source: IANS
