Philippines loses to Kyrgyzstan in bid for seat at 15-member UN Security Council

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday elected Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe to the 15-member U.N. Security Council for two-year terms starting on January 1, 2027.

Germany, which had lobbied hard for a seat, came third for the two places contested by the Western European and Others Group, with 104 votes, against 134 for Portugal and 131 for Austria.

The contest between the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan for the seat for the Asia-Pacific Group went to four rounds of voting, with Kyrgyzstan eventually achieving the necessary two-thirds majority and securing its first-ever Security Council seat by 142 votes to 49.

The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force. It has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The remaining 10 members are elected, with five new members joining every year. This year, one comes from the Africa Group, one from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, one from the Asia-Pacific Group, and two from the Western European and Others Group.

Zimbabwe will replace Somalia and Trinidad and Tobago will replace Panama, while Portugal and Austria will replace Denmark and Greece. Kyrgyzstan will replace Pakistan.

Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Latvia and Liberia will continue to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council until the end of 2027.

On Tuesday, the General Assembly elected Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman as president of the 193-member body for its 81st session, which begins in September.

-Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by David Ljunggren and Sanjeev Miglani/Reuters