Elected by 182 votes in the 193-member General Assembly, it will take over one of two Asian seats to be vacated by Japan in January for a two-year term.
Five abstained and three countries abstained in the secret ballot. With the support of the Asia Pacific group, Pakistan did not face any opposition.
This will be the eighth time Islamabad will be in the council.
After the election, Pakistan's permanent representative Munir Akram avoided the media at the entrance to the General Assembly, not attending the traditional news conferences held by newly elected countries, where representatives of the other four countries spoke.With Japan retiring, there will be a subtle change in the balance in the polarized council where the triumvirate of China, Russia and Pakistan will come to the fore on many issues.
Islamabad's place in the council will give it a lavish soapbox to step up its campaign on Kashmir, which it has also been raising on unrelated matters. It will not have to rely solely on China to protect terrorists like 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Sajid Mir, who has the support of the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, which acts unanimously.
Candidates for election to the other four regionally allocated seats had the unanimous support of their groups and won without opposition.
Denmark and Greece were selected from the Western Europe and Others group, Panama from the Latin American and Caribbean group, and Somalia from the Africa group.Five of the ten non-permanent seats on the 15-member council are up for election every year and when candidates supported by their group are not challenged the elections become a mere formality. Next year the council will have two representatives from Islamic countries, Pakistan and Somalia, whereas currently there is only one.
When Algeria retires at the end of this year, there will be no Arab states on the council, which is sharply divided over Middle Eastern issues, particularly Gaza and Israel.
When India announced its candidacy for the 2020 election for the 2021–22 term, Pakistan had announced its intention to seek its eighth term in the council. After huge publicity, Islamabad got the support of about 20 countries in the Asia group like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, UAE, Lebanon and Singapore.Islamabad's candidature was supported at a group meeting last June. The Asia Pacific group's 53 members are extremely diverse, with members spanning from tiny Nauru in the Pacific to Cyprus to the edge of Europe, with Central Asia, the Gulf and Lebanon in between.
India has been on the council eight times, most recently during 2021-2022, Nepal and Bangladesh have served on the council twice, while Sri Lanka was elected only once in 1960. Maldives and Bhutan are not in the council. While this time, no one opposed Pakistan, in the 2011 election, Kyrgyzstan stood against its candidacy without the support of the Asia group.The Central Asian country got 55 votes, reducing Pakistan's lead to 129 votes, just one more than the 128 - or two-thirds - needed to win a two-year term starting in 2012.
Five abstained and three countries abstained in the secret ballot. With the support of the Asia Pacific group, Pakistan did not face any opposition.
This will be the eighth time Islamabad will be in the council.
After the election, Pakistan's permanent representative Munir Akram avoided the media at the entrance to the General Assembly, not attending the traditional news conferences held by newly elected countries, where representatives of the other four countries spoke.With Japan retiring, there will be a subtle change in the balance in the polarized council where the triumvirate of China, Russia and Pakistan will come to the fore on many issues.
Islamabad's place in the council will give it a lavish soapbox to step up its campaign on Kashmir, which it has also been raising on unrelated matters. It will not have to rely solely on China to protect terrorists like 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Sajid Mir, who has the support of the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, which acts unanimously.
Candidates for election to the other four regionally allocated seats had the unanimous support of their groups and won without opposition.
Denmark and Greece were selected from the Western Europe and Others group, Panama from the Latin American and Caribbean group, and Somalia from the Africa group.Five of the ten non-permanent seats on the 15-member council are up for election every year and when candidates supported by their group are not challenged the elections become a mere formality. Next year the council will have two representatives from Islamic countries, Pakistan and Somalia, whereas currently there is only one.
When Algeria retires at the end of this year, there will be no Arab states on the council, which is sharply divided over Middle Eastern issues, particularly Gaza and Israel.
When India announced its candidacy for the 2020 election for the 2021–22 term, Pakistan had announced its intention to seek its eighth term in the council. After huge publicity, Islamabad got the support of about 20 countries in the Asia group like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, UAE, Lebanon and Singapore.Islamabad's candidature was supported at a group meeting last June. The Asia Pacific group's 53 members are extremely diverse, with members spanning from tiny Nauru in the Pacific to Cyprus to the edge of Europe, with Central Asia, the Gulf and Lebanon in between.
India has been on the council eight times, most recently during 2021-2022, Nepal and Bangladesh have served on the council twice, while Sri Lanka was elected only once in 1960. Maldives and Bhutan are not in the council. While this time, no one opposed Pakistan, in the 2011 election, Kyrgyzstan stood against its candidacy without the support of the Asia group.The Central Asian country got 55 votes, reducing Pakistan's lead to 129 votes, just one more than the 128 - or two-thirds - needed to win a two-year term starting in 2012.
