STATES PARTIES TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT ELECT THREE MORE JUDGES, IN CONTINUING ELECTIONS AT HEADQUARTERS

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



Of 18 Judges Required, 11 Selected



In a fourth and fifth round of secret balloting this morning, the first resumed session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court elected three of 18 required judges for the Court, after electing eight during three rounds of balloting on Tuesday and Wednesday, including six women.

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.

Having obtained the highest number of votes and the required two-thirds majority of States parties present and voting during the fourth round of balloting, the following candidates were elected: Georghios M. Pikis (Cyprus) from the Group of Asian States; and Philippe Kirsch (Canada) and Erkki Kourula (Finland), both from the Group of Western European and Other States.

During the fifth round of balloting, no candidate obtained the required two-thirds majority of Members present and voting.

[Biographical information on the elected judges and other candidates is available in document ICC/ASP/1/4/Add.1. For results of the first three ballots, see Press Release L/3021 and L/3022 of 4 and 5 February, respectively.]

Before the fourth round of balloting, the President of the first resumed session, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), announced the withdrawal of candidates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mongolia, Portugal, Colombia, Fiji and the Niger. Before the fifth round of balloting, he announced that the candidates from Romania and Venezuela had been withdrawn.


Voting Procedures

In the fourth round of voting, as in preceding rounds, 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.

In order to attain equitable geographical representation, out of 18 judges, a minimum of three judges had to come from the Group of African States, two from the Group of Asian States, two from the Group of Eastern European States, three from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and three from the Group of Western European and Other States. At least six judges would have to be female and six male.

Of the eight judges elected during the preceding three rounds of balloting on Tuesday and Wednesday, five of them were from List A and two from List B. Three candidates were elected from the Group of African States and three from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (thereby meeting the minimum requirement for those two groups), one from the Group of Asian States, one from the Group of Western European and Other States, and none from the Group of Eastern European States. Six of the judges were female.

Consequently, today representatives were required to vote for at least three candidates from List A and three from List B, as well as for at least one candidate from the Group of Asian States, two from the Group of Eastern European States, and two candidates from the Group of Western European and Other States. A minimum of four candidates had to be male.

As during the fourth round of balloting some minimum requirements had not been met, no minimum requirements were necessary for the fifth and subsequent rounds of balloting. However, no more than 13 candidates from List A and no more than nine candidates from List B shall be considered elected. Consequently, a maximum of six candidates from List A and a maximum of five candidates from List B could be elected.

The following are the results of today’s votes:


Fourth 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) : 30
Mr. Doudou Ndir (Senegal) : 19


Asian States:

Mr. Georghios M. Pikis (Cyprus) : 60
Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa) : 32

Eastern European States:

Mr. Bostjan M. Zupancic (Slovenia) : 23
Ms. Hajnalka Karpati (Hungary) : 20
Ms. Eleonora Zielinska (Poland) : 15

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom) : 50
Mr. Ioannis Giannidis (Greece) : 11
Mr. Claude Jorda (France) : 46
Ms. Barbara Liliane Ott (Switzerland) : 38


List B:


Asian States

Mr. Bunchhat Heng Vong (Cambodia) : 8

Eastern European States:

Mr. Ion Diaconu (Romania) : 15
Mr. Dimitar Gochev (Bulgaria) : 21
Mr. Ivo Josipovic (Croatia) : 47
Ms. Anita Usacka (Latvia) : 52

Latin American and Caribbean States:

Mr. Rene Blattmann (Bolivia) : 39
Mr. Antonio Boggiano (Argentina) : 9
Mr. Victor Rodriguez-Cedeno (Venezuela) : 8

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany) : 47
Mr. Philippe Kirsch (Canada) : 57
Mr. Erkki Kourula (Finland) : 56
Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy) : 52
Mr. Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo (Spain) : 35


Fifth Ballot


Total number of ballot papers:85
Number of invalid papers: 0
Number of valid ballots: 85
Number of Members voting: 85
Required two-thirds majority: 57

List A:


African States:

Mr. Adolphus Karibi-Whyte (Nigeria) : 27
Mr. Doudou Ndir (Senegal) : 19

Asian States:

Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa) : 34


Eastern European States:

Ms. Hajnalka Karpati (Hungary) : 8
Ms. Eleonora Zielinska (Poland) : 5
Mr. Bostjan M. Zupancic (Slovenia) : 10

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom) : 50
Mr. Ioannis Giannidis (Greece) : 8
Mr. Claude Jorda (France) : 45
Ms. Barbara Liliane Ott (Switzerland) : 39


List B:

Asian States

Mr. Bunchhat Heng Vong (Cambodia) : 6

Eastern European States:

Mr. Dimitar Gochev (Bulgaria) : 5
Mr. Ivo Josipovic (Croatia) : 49
Ms. Anita Usacka (Latvia) : 49

Latin American and Caribbean States:

Mr. Rene Blattmann (Bolivia) : 48
Mr. Antonio Boggiano (Argentina) : 9

Western European and Other States:

Mr. Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany) : 54
Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy) : 54
Mr. Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo (Spain) : 26


The meeting of the Assembly was suspended until 3p.m.




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