Slovenia withdraws candidacy for UN Security Council member

Slovenia on Monday withdrew its candidacy for non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in a bid to support the world body after a 15th-round of ballots failed to elect a country between Slovenia and Azerbaijan to fill a seat for the East Europe region on the most powerful UN body. Azerbaijan won 116 votes and Slovenia got in the 15th round of voting, which started on Friday as 193 members of the UN General Assembly present voted. The Slovenian decision was announced by the representative of the Slovenian UN Mission in the UN General Assembly hall at the UN Headquarters in New York. The Slovenian move left Azerbaijan the only candidate for the seat on the 15-nation Security Council, but Azerbaijan has to garner at least 128 ballots in a new round of votes. To win election, a country must receive a two-third majority of those countries present and voting, regardless of whether or not they are the only candidate in their region. In the voting on Friday, Pakistan, Morocco and Guatemala were elected in the first round, while Togo won the election in the third round. UN member states on Friday voted in the General Assembly by secret ballot for five non-permanent seats representing geographical regions -- three from the Africa and Asia-Pacific grouping, one from Eastern Europe, and one from Latin America and the Caribbean.