Venezuela, Malaysia, Angola and New Zealand won seats on the United Nations Security Council on Thursday for two years from Jan. 1, 2015, while Spain beat Turkey in a third round of run-off voting.
Venezuela, Malaysia, Angola and New Zealand won seats on the United Nations Security Council on Thursday for two years from Jan. 1, 2015, while Spain beat Turkey in a third round of run-off voting.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly elected Venezuela with 181 votes, Malaysia with 187 votes, Angola with 190 votes.
All three countries campaigned unopposed for their seats after being chosen as the candidates for their respective regional groups, but still needed to win the votes of two-thirds of the General Assembly to secure their spots.
The only contest was between New Zealand, Spain and Turkey for two seats given to the Western European and others group. New Zealand won a seat during the first round of voting with 145 votes. Run-off voting was taking place to decide the final spot.
Venezuela last tried to join the 15-member council in 2006, but failed to win the required two-thirds support of the General Assembly during dozens of rounds of voting after the United States successfully campaigned against its bid. Washington did not stand in the way of Venezuela's bid this time.
"This is the victory of Hugo Chavez Frias. Chavez keeps winning battles in the world ... It's a day in which the world has supported our fatherland," Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said minutes after the vote in a nationally televised address.
The U.S. campaign against Venezuela's 2006 bid came after the late socialist leader Chavez compared former U.S. President George W. Bush to the devil, saying on the podium of the 2006 U.N. General Assembly that he could still "smell sulfur" a day after Bush addressed member states.
It has even named the Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela Chavez, as its deputy ambassador to the United Nations.
The new non-permanent members will replace Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda. The others still serving are Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria.
