Kyrgyzstan wins seat on UN Security Council for first time ever

Key points

• A dramatic morning which saw multiple rounds of voting for the competitive seats, came amid widening geopolitical divisions and repeated deadlock within the UN body dedicated to resolving conflicts and preventing wars from erupting in the first place.
• The five countries were elected by the 193-member General Assembly to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2027. Tweet URL Austria and Portugal won the two seats allocated to the Western European and other States (WEOG) Group, while Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe were elected from the Latin American and Caribbean Group and the African Group respectively.
• Kyrgyzstan secured the Asia-Pacific seat after defeating the Philippines in four rounds of voting.
• Vote tally Portugal and Austria prevailed in the first round, receiving 134 and 131 votes respectively – comfortably above the required two-thirds majority.
• Germany received 104 votes and was eliminated.