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In a first for the Maldives, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected the President of the UN General Assembly for 2021-22, winning 143 votes or nearly three-fourths of the 191 countries that voted in the annual election
Highlights
- The 193-member General Assaembly voted on Monday to elect the President, who will preside over the 76th session of the UN body that will commence in September.
- According to the established rules of regional rotation, the President of the 76th session of the General Assembly was to be elected from the Group of Asia-Pacific States.
- Mr Shahid will succeed Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir who was UNGA President for the 75th session that came amid the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
- The President of the General Assembly is elected every year by a secret ballot and requires a simple majority vote of the General Assembly.
- India had already voiced its strong support for Mr Shahid's candidature for President of the 76th session of the UNGA, saying he is best equipped to preside over the General Assembly of 193 nations of the world.
United Nations General Assembly
- The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN.
- Its powers, composition, functions, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter.
- The UNGA is responsible for the UN budget, appointing the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appointing the Secretary-General of the United Nations, receiving reports from other parts of the UN system, and making recommendations through resolutions.
- It also establishes numerous subsidiary organs to advance or assist in its broad mandate.
- The UNGA is the only UN organ wherein all member states have equal representation.
Source: The Hindu
