United Nations – Panama was elected Tuesday to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after being chosen by Latin American nations as a compromise candidate to end the stalemated battle for the seat between Guatemala and Venezuela.
Panama received 164 votes in the 48th round of voting in the U.N. General Assembly and will officially join the Security Council on Jan. 1, along with Belgium, Indonesia, Italy and South Africa. Venezuela received 11 votes, and Guatemala received four.
Panama was nominated by Venezuela and Guatemala after neither could get the two-thirds majority needed for election.
Venezuela was forced to withdraw in a setback for President Hugo Chavez’s bid for greater influence at the U.N. and within Latin America after he called President Bush the “devil” in a speech to the General Assembly in September.
Venezuela campaigned as a counterweight to what it said was U.S. domination of the panel.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, said Washington looked forward to working with Panama on the Security Council and was glad that “the risk of disruption” that would have accompanied Venezuela’s election to the council had been eliminated.
“We are relieved to have it over with,” Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile said. “It has been a long story, but it ends well.”
