ELECTIONS TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CONTINUE AT HEADQUARTERS, WITH ONE ADDITIONAL JUDGE SELECTED IN TWO ROUNDS OF BALLOTING

International Criminal Court
Assembly of States Parties
First Session (Resumed)
5 February 2003
7th Meeting (Resumed) (AM & PM)




States Parties Have Thus Far Elected Eight of 18 Required for Court



In a third round of secret balloting this afternoon, the first resumed session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court elected one of 18 required judges for the Court, after electing seven yesterday, including six women, in the first round. The role of the judges, and the Prosecutor, to be elected by consensus later, are key to shaping the Court and making it an independent, fair and effective institution to deal with crimes of the most grievous nature committed by individuals. The treaty establishing the Court entered into force in July 2002.

Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) obtained the highest number of votes and a two-thirds majority of the States parties present and voting.

Mr. Hudson-Phillips, representing the Latin American and Caribbean States, was the only male judge to meet the requirements of List A, namely, candidates having established competence in criminal law and procedure. More information on the elected judges and other candidates is available in document ICC/ASP/1/4/Add.1.

In a second round of balloting this morning, no candidate obtained the required number of votes.

[For background information on the session, as well as yesterday’s voting results, see Press Releases L/3020 of 3 February and L/3021 of 4 February 2003.]

Before the balloting began this morning, the President of the resumed session, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), announced the withdrawal of candidates from the Gambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. In the afternoon, Belgium, Peru and Uganda withdrew its candidates.


Voting Procedures

In two rounds of voting today, the Assembly of States Parties followed a procedure to meet requirements for the representation of the principal legal systems of the world, equitable geographical representation and a fair representation of female and male judges.

The ballot contained two lists of candidates. List A comprised the names of candidates having established competence in criminal law and procedure and relevant experience in the field. List B contained names of candidates having established competence in relevant areas of international law, such as humanitarian law and the law of human rights, and extensive experience in a professional legal capacity relevant to the Court’s judicial work.

Of the seven judges elected yesterday, five of them were from List A and two from List B. Regarding minimum regional voting requirements, three candidates were elected from the Group of African States, one from the Group of Asian States, none from the Group of Eastern European States, two from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States and one from the Group of Western European and Other States.

Before the voting this morning, the Assembly President announced that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had informed the Secretary-General that it had changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro. Arrangements had been made to that effect.

The following are the results of today’s votes:


Second Ballot

Total number of ballot papers : 85
Number of invalid papers : 5
Number of valid ballots : 80
Number of Members voting : 80
Required two-thirds majority : 54


List A:

African States:

Mr. Adolphus Karibi-Whyte (Nigeria) : 19
Mr. Joseph-Medard Katuala Kaba Kashala (Democratic Republic of the Congo) : 8
Mr. Doudou Ndir (Senegal) : 17
Mr. Mory Ousmane Sissoko (Niger) : 7


Asian States:

Mr. Georghios M. Pikis (Cyprus) : 47
Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa) : 30
Mr. Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga (Fiji) : 7


Eastern European States:

Mr. Bostjan M. Zupancic (Slovenia) : 27
Ms. Hajnalka Karpati (Hungary) : 26
Ms. Eleonora Zielinska (Poland) : 26


Latin American and Caribbean States:

Mr. Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) : 49


Western European and Other States:

Mr. Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom) : 45
Mr. Ioannis Giannidis (Greece) : 15
Mr. Claude Jorda (France) : 43
Mr. Almiro Rodrigues (Portugal) : 24
Ms. Barbara Liliane Ott (Switzerland) : 36


List B:

African States:

Mr. Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko (Uganda) : 9


Asian States

Mr. Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia) : 11
Mr. Bunchhat Heng Vong (Cambodia) : 10

Eastern European States:

Mr. Ion Diaconu (Romania) : 23
Mr. Dimitar Gochev (Bulgaria) : 18
Mr. Ivo Josipovic (Croatia) : 30
Ms. Anita Usacka (Latvia) : 31


Latin American and Caribbean States:

Mr. Rene Blattmann (Bolivia) : 27
Mr. Antonio Boggiano (Argentina) : 7
Mr. Roberto MacLean Ugarteche (Peru) : 10
Mr. Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia) : 7
Mr. Victor Rodriguez-Cedeno (Venezuela) : 9


Western European and Other States:

Mr. Marc Bossuyt (Belgium) : 9
Mr. Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany) : 45
Mr. Philippe Kirsch (Canada) : 46
Mr. Erkki Kourula (Finland) : 53
Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy) : 46
Mr. Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo (Spain) : 24


Third Ballot

Total number of ballot papers : 85
Number of invalid papers : 2
Number of valid ballots : 83
Number of Members voting : 83
Required two-thirds majority : 56


List A:


African States:

Mr. Adolphus Karibi-Whyte (Nigeria) : 21
Mr. Joseph-Medard Katuala Kaba Kashala (Democratic Republic of the Congo) : 5
Mr. Doudou Ndir (Senegal) : 19
Mr. Mory Ousmane Sissoko (Niger) : 7

Asian States:

Mr. Georghios M. Pikis (Cyprus) : 50
Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa) : 33
Mr. Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga (Fiji) : 6

Latin American and Caribbean States

Mr. Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) : 56

Eastern European States:

Mr. Bostjan M. Zupancic (Slovenia) : 27
Ms. Hajnalka Karpati (Hungary) : 24
Ms. Eleonora Zielinska (Poland) : 24

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom) : 47
Mr. Ioannis Giannidis (Greece) : 18
Mr. Claude Jorda (France) : 43
Mr. Almiro Rodrigues (Portugal) : 19
Ms. Barbara Liliane Ott (Switzerland) : 36

List B:

Asian States

Mr. Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia) : 6
Mr. Bunchhat Heng Vong (Cambodia) : 8

Eastern European States:

Mr. Ion Diaconu (Romania) : 20
Mr. Dimitar Gochev (Bulgaria) : 20
Mr. Ivo Josipovic (Croatia) : 39
Ms. Anita Usacka (Latvia) : 37

Latin American and Caribbean States:

Mr. Rene Blattmann (Bolivia) : 30
Mr. Antonio Boggiano (Argentina) : 11
Mr. Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia) : 8
Mr. Victor Rodriguez-Cedeno (Venezuela) : 10

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany) : 48
Mr. Philippe Kirsch (Canada) : 54
Mr. Erkki Kourula (Finland) : 54
Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy) : 49
Mr. Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo (Spain) : 22

The Assembly will meet again tomorrow, 6 February, at 10 a.m. to elect the 10 remaining judges.




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