- eligible to stand for election. This was also the case for all Committee members whose time of office would end in 2020.
- 417. The Chairperson understood that for Electoral Groups I, III, V(a) and V(b), the number of vacant seats corresponded to the exact number of candidate States Parties for election, which meant that the candidates automatically became members of the Committee without election. For the two remaining Electoral Groups II and IV, the number of candidates exceeded the seats. The Assembly therefore had to elect the candidates for each seat by secret ballot. The Chairperson sought volunteers to serve as tellers for the election.
- 418. The delegation of Jordan proposed Morocco to serve as a teller.
- 419. The Chairperson noted that Zambia had volunteered to serve as a teller on behalf of Group V(a). She sought the name of the teller from Morocco.
- 420. The delegation of Morocco apologized, but the delegate was not in attendance.
- 421. The delegation of Palestine proposed Mr Husameddin Alkhatib from the Palestine delegation.
- 422. The Secretariat presented Information Document 14, which contained the names of the candidates for election. Electoral Group I - the Netherlands for one vacant seat (clean slate). Group II - Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (seven candidates for two vacant seats). Group III - Jamaica for one vacant seat (clean slate). Group IV - Bangladesh, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand (seven candidates for four vacant seats). Group V(a) - Cameroon, Djibouti and Togo for three vacant seats (clean slate). Group V(b) - Kuwait for one vacant seat (clean slate).
- 423. The Chairperson explained that the Secretariat would distribute to each State Party two ballot papers for each of Groups II and IV, and one envelope. Each State Party had to vote for all electoral groups, not only for the group of which it was a member. The candidates obtaining the largest number of votes shall be elected, up to the number of seats to be filled in each electoral group. Each ballot shall bear the names of the candidate States Parties for the election for the group in question, together with an indication of the number of seats to be filled. States Parties were invited to circle the names of the States for which they wished to vote. The Rules of Procedure required that the name of the State Party be circled, with the tellers invalidating any bulletin that was incorrectly marked. States Parties should not circle more names than the number of vacant seats per electoral group or the ballot would be considered to be void. Ballots should be placed in the envelope and sealed. The absence of a ballot in the envelope would be considered as an abstention.

### [The session was suspended for 5 minutes for the vote]

- 424. The Chairperson invited the Secretariat to proceed with the roll call to collect the ballots from each delegation carried out in the French alphabetical order of States. On hearing their names, delegations would be invited to the podium to deposit the sealed envelope in the ballot box.
- 425. The Secretariat invited the States Parties to vote. The following States Parties voted : Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan. Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirghizstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic