By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday elected Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe, Austria and Portugal into the 15-member U.N. Security Council for two-year terms, with effect from January 1, 2027.
A second round of voting was underway to determine the fifth remaining seat, contested by the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan.
Germany, which had lobbied hard for a seat, came third for the two places contested by the Western European and Others Group, with 104 votes, against 134 for Portugal and 131 for Austria.
The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force.
It has five permanent members with veto powers. They include Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
The remaining 10 members are elected, with five new members joining every year.
This year, one comes from the Africa Group, one from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, one from the Asia-Pacific Group, and two from the Western European and Others Group.
Zimbabwe will replace Somalia, Trinidad and Tobago will replace Panama, while Portugal and Austria will replace Denmark and Greece.
The Philippines and Kyrgyzstan are competing to replace Pakistan.
