MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina joins the UN Security Council with overwhelming support of 182 votes

For the next two years Argentina and Guatemala will represent Latam and the Caribbean at the 15 member Security Council

The UN General Assembly elected Argentina, Rwanda and Australia to the 15-national Security Council for 2013 and 2014. Rwanda and Argentina were unopposed in their bids for the Africa seat and the Latin American and Caribbean seat.

However Australia needed to win a two-thirds majority of the 193-member General Assembly. Rwanda won 148 votes and Argentina won 182 votes.

Australia beat out Finland and Luxembourg for the first of two seats available in the “Western European and Others” group with 140 votes. Another round of voting is taking place to decide who wins the second seat. In the Asia-Pacific group, Cambodia, Bhutan and South Korea are also competing for one available Pacific seat.

Argentina which replaces Colombia received the unanimous support from Latinamerica and the Caribbean and has already been member of the Security Council eight times, the last in 2005/06.

Last May when the Argentine candidacy was confirmed for the 2013/14 period, Foreign minister Hector Timerman said Buenos Aires was committed “to take ahead all relevant issues for the region” and that Argentina’s voice, will be “the voice of its brother peoples”.

The UN Security council has fiver permanent members with veto power, China, Russia, France, UK and US, and ten non permanent rotating by regions, currently Azerbaijan, Germany, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa and Togo. In December Germany, India, Portugal, South Africa and Colombia conclude their mandates.

“All UN members can trust they will count with Argentina in the defence of peace, security, sovereignty and the end of colonialism, as well as indefatigable defender of the founding values of the multilateral organization”, said the Argentine Foreign Ministry last May when the official candidacy was announced.