Venezuela elected to UN security council

Angola, Malaysia and New Zealand also successful, and Turkey and Spain face new round of voting for last available seat

The Guardian, Agencies in New York, Thursday 16 October 2014

María Gabriela Chávez, right, with her father and sister in 2011. Photograph:
Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

The daughter of Hugo Chávez is set to play a more prominent role in international politics after Venezuela was elected to the UN security council.

María Gabriela Chávez is Venezuela’s deputy ambassador at the UN mission. The country garnered 181 votes from member states to secure one of five rotating seats at the security council. Angola, Malaysia and New Zealand were also successful, and Turkey and Spain will face a new round of balloting to decide who takes the last available seat.

Special attention has been on Turkey as it is under growing pressure to do more about the war across its border in Syria. Support for Turkey dipped from the first ballot to the second. It needed at least 129 votes and got 109 in the first and 73 in the second.

Venezuela’s socialist government was unopposed for the single seat allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. Venezuela’s foreign minister, Rafael Ramirez, dedicated “this huge triumph” to Chávez and said it came despite a “malign campaign against our country”.

The United States, which torpedoed Venezuela’s last attempt to join the council in 2006, would not discuss how it voted in the secret ballot. Ten countries abstained.

Despite the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s close ties with Syria’s Bashar Assad and Iran and his support for Russia over the Ukraine crisis, the US chose not to publicly oppose Venezuela’s candidacy this year.

Rights observers expressed concern over some of the newly elected council members. Philippe Bolopion, the UN director of Human Rights Watch, said: “The security council’s new membership could prove more problematic on human rights issues, with several generally rights-friendly countries leaving and others coming on board with poor voting records.

“This is particularly true of Venezuela, which has consistently challenged protection efforts at the [UN] Human Rights Council, but also of Angola and Malaysia, which need to demonstrate a more human rights-oriented approach in New York than they did in Geneva.”

The new members will join the council on 1 January and serve to the end of 2016. The five will replace Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

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