# 2014 International Criminal Court judges election

Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held from 8 to 17 December 2014 in New York. The judges were elected for terms of nine years and took office on 11 March 2015.

## Background

The judges elected at this session replaced those six judges who were elected at the second election of ICC judges in 2006 for a full term of nine years; they also served for nine years until 2024.
The election was governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Its article 36(8)(a) states that "[t]he States Parties shall, in the selection of judges, take into account the need, within the membership of the Court, for:
* (i) The representation of the principal legal systems of the world;
* (ii) Equitable geographical representation; and
* (iii) A fair representation of female and male judges."
Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:
* List A contains those judges that "[h]ave established competence in criminal law and procedure, and the necessary relevant experience, whether as judge, prosecutor, advocate or in other similar capacity, in criminal proceedings";
* List B contains those who "[h]ave established competence in relevant areas of international law such as international humanitarian law and the law of human rights, and extensive experience in a professional legal capacity which is of relevance to the judicial work of the Court".
Each candidate has to belong to exactly one list. A minimum of nine judges elected from list A and five judges elected from list B is to be maintained on the court.
Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004.

## Judges remaining in office

The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2015:
| Judge | Nationality | List A or B | List A or B | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Gender | Gender |
| Judge | Nationality | List A | List B | African | Asian | E. European | GRULAG | WEOG | Female | Male |
| Joyce Aluoch | Kenya | X | | X | | | | | X | |
| Miriam Defensor Santiago | Philippines | | X | | X | | | | X | |
| Chile Eboe-Osuji | Nigeria | X | | X | | | | | | X |
| Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi | Argentina | X | | | | | X | | X | |
| Robert Fremr | Czech Republic | X | | | | X | | | | X |
| Geoffrey A. Henderson | Trinidad and Tobago | X | | | | | X | | | X |
| Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia | Dominican Republic | X | | | | | X | | X | |
| Sanji Mmasenono Monageng | Botswana | | X | X | | | | | X | |
| Howard Morrison | United Kingdom | X | | | | | | X | | X |
| Kuniko Ozaki | Japan | | X | | X | | | | X | |
| Cuno Tarfusser | Italy | X | | | | | | X | | X |
| Christine van den Wyngaert | Belgium | X | | | | | | X | X | |
| | | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 |

## Nomination process

The nomination period of judges for the 2014 election lasted from 28 April to 20 July 2014. It was extended once due to the lack of candidates from Asia until 3 August 2014. The following persons were nominated:
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | List A or B | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Regional criteria | Gender | Gender |
| Candidate | Nationality | List A | List B | African | Asian | E. European | GRULAG | WEOG | Female | Male |
| Reine Alapini-Gansou | Benin | | X | X | | | | | X | |
| Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul | Tunisia | X | | X | | | | | | X |
| Emmanuel Yaw Benneh | Ghana | | X | X | | | | | | X |
| Toma Birmontienė [de] | Lithuania | | X | | | X | | | X | |
| Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant | Brazil | | X | | | | X | | | X |
| Chung Chang-ho | Republic of Korea | X | | | X | | | | | X |
| Zlata Đurđević | Croatia | | X | | | X | | | X | |
| Pavel Gontšarov [et] | Estonia | X | | | | X | | | | X |
| Piotr Hofmański | Poland | X | | | | X | | | | X |
| Péter Kovács | Hungary | | X | | | X | | | | X |
| Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua | Democratic Republic of the Congo | | X | X | | | | | | X |
| Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de] | Timor-Leste | X | | | X | | | | X | |
| Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut | France | | X | | | | | X | | X |
| Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa | Madagascar | | X | X | | | | | X | |
| Bertram Schmitt | Germany | X | | | | | | X | | X |
| Krister Hans Thelin [sv] | Sweden | X | | | | | | X | | X |
| Mindia Ugrekhelidze | Georgia | X | | | | X | | | | X |
| | | 8 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 12 |

## Minimum voting requirements

Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that articles 36(5) and 36(8)(a) cited above were fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements applied initially:
| Criterion | Number of judges required | Number of judges remaining in office | Ex ante voting requirement | Number of candidates | Adjusted voting requirement | Adjusted voting requirement equals ex ante? |
| List A or B |||||||
| List A | 9 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | Yes |
| List B | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 | Yes |
| Regional criteria |||||||
| African | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | Yes |
| Asian | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Yes |
| Eastern European | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | Yes |
| Latin American and Caribbean | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Yes |
| Western European and other | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Yes |
| Gender criteria |||||||
| Female | 6 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | Yes |
| Male | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes |
Regarding the List A or B requirement, two votes had to be cast for List B candidates.
Regarding the regional criteria, three votes had to be cast for certain regional groups: two for Eastern European candidates and one for an Asian candidate.
Regarding the gender criteria, one vote had to be cast for a male candidate.
The regional and gender requirements could have been adjusted before the election depending on the number of candidates, pursuant to paragraphs 20 (b) and (c) of the resolution that governs the elections.
The minimum voting requirements are updated after each ballot to account for the judges already elected. The regional and gender requirements are dropped either if they can no longer be (jointly) fulfilled, or if after four ballots not all seats are filled. The List A or B requirement remains active until a sufficient number of judges has been elected from each list.

## Ballots

The ballot results were as follows:
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | Region | Gender | 8 December 2014 | 9 December 2014 | 9 December 2014 | 9 December 2014 | 10 December 2014 | 10 December 2014 | 10 December 2014 | 12 December 2014 | 12 December 2014 | 12 December 2014 | 12 December 2014 |
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | Region | Gender | 1st ballot | 2nd ballot | 3rd ballot | 4th ballot | 5th ballot | 6th ballot | 7th ballot | 8th ballot | 9th ballot | 10th ballot | 11th ballot |
| Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | 104 | 107 | 116 | 116 | 116 | 117 | 119 | 113 | 117 | 118 | 117 |
| Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | 70 | 72 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 79 | 78 |
| Chung Chang-ho | Republic of Korea | List A | Asia | Male | 73 | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected |
| Piotr Hofmański | Poland | List A | Eastern Europe | Male | 63 | 66 | 72 | 87 | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected |
| Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut | France | List B | Western Europe and Others | Male | 61 | 58 | 67 | 75 | 73 | 87 | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected |
| Bertram Schmitt | Germany | List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | 67 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 79 | elected | elected | elected | elected | elected |
| Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua | Democratic Republic of the Congo | List B | Africa | Male | 39 | 42 | 51 | 54 | 66 | 65 | 69 | 71 | 77 | 84 | elected |
| Péter Kovács | Hungary | List B | Eastern Europe | Male | 52 | 59 | 59 | 68 | 56 | 63 | 54 | 57 | 56 | 55 | 46 |
| Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de] | Timor-Leste | List A | Asia | Female | 38 | 19 | 20 | 24 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 29 | 33 | 31 | 29 |
| Krister Hans Thelin [sv] | Sweden | List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | 44 | 45 | 44 | 52 | 43 | 43 | 35 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 28 |
| Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant | Brazil | List B | Latin America and Caribbean | Male | 34 | 35 | 27 | 28 | 34 | 33 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 19 | 14 |
| Reine Alapini-Gansou | Benin | List B | Africa | Female | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | withdrawn |
| Zlata Đurđević | Croatia | List B | Eastern Europe | Female | 35 | 35 | 34 | 38 | 24 | 26 | 10 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Mindia Ugrekhelidze | Georgia | List A | Eastern Europe | Male | 23 | 20 | 25 | 23 | 15 | 10 | 3 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Toma Birmontienė [de] | Lithuania | List B | Eastern Europe | Female | 22 | 20 | 27 | 25 | 12 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Pavel Gontšarov [et] | Estonia | List A | Eastern Europe | Male | 26 | 23 | 27 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul | Tunisia | List A | Africa | Male | 12 | 15 | 17 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa | Madagascar | List B | Africa | Female | 11 | 8 | 14 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Emmanuel Yaw Benneh | Ghana | List B | Africa | Male | 5 | 3 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | Region | Gender | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 15 December 2014 | 16 December 2014 | 16 December 2014 | 16 December 2014 | 16 December 2014 |
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | Region | Gender | 12th ballot | 13th ballot | 14th ballot | 15th ballot | 16th ballot | 17th ballot | 18th ballot | 19th ballot | 20th ballot | 21st ballot | 22nd ballot |
| Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | Valid votes cast | 114 | 117 | 117 | 111 | 114 | 115 | 114 | 110 | 114 | 115 | 116 |
| Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | Two-thirds majority | 76 | 78 | 78 | 74 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 74 | 76 | 77 | 78 |
| Péter Kovács | Hungary | List B | Eastern Europe | Male | 44 | 60 | 60 | 59 | 62 | 65 | 65 | 66 | 70 | 73 | 79 |
| Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de] | Timor-Leste | List A | Asia | Female | 46 | 57 | 57 | 52 | 52 | 50 | 49 | 44 | 44 | 42 | 37 |
| Krister Hans Thelin [sv] | Sweden | List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | 24 | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
| Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant | Brazil | List B | Latin America and Caribbean | Male | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn | withdrawn |
The minimum voting requirements are imposed on the ballots cast, not on the results. Thus, there is no guarantee that a corresponding number of judges is elected. However, in this election this was the case:
| Criterion | Initial minimal voting requirement | Corresponding number of judges elected? |
| List B | 2 | Yes, after 10th ballot |
| Asian | 1 | Yes, after 1st ballot |
| Eastern European | 2 | Yes, after 22nd ballot |
| Male | 1 | Yes, after 1st ballot |
Note that the regional minimum voting requirement was dropped after the 4th ballot and was thus no longer being imposed when a second Eastern European judge was elected in the 22nd ballot.