UN debates how to hold Security Council election next month in the age of physical distancing

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Diplomats at the United Nations are trying to reinvent voting methods that have been in place for more than half a century while the world is on lockdown because of COVID-19.

The UN ordered all non-essential staff to work from home in mid-March, and bans on large gatherings remain in place until at least the end of June, so the UN is urgently trying to find a way to allow for physical distancing and secrecy when Security Council elections are held in New York next month.

Two options are on the table. The first scenario is to group diplomats into time slots to stagger the vote and prevent large gatherings of people in one place at one time. The other is the creation of an “e-ballot” system, which is proving unpopular with diplomats.

“A lot of ambassadors have made promises about who they will vote for, which may not be 100-per-cent true,” explained Richard Gowan, UN director at the non-profit International Crisis Group. “They would be worried if their votes were hacked and released online.”

Member states debated the options for holding secret-ballot elections during a three-hour virtual town hall meeting on Friday. Diplomats told The Globe and Mail that China put forward the idea of a drive-through voting site, which was dismissed as impractical. The United States and Saudi Arabia were among a minority of countries to favour the electronic voting option. Most member states showed little enthusiasm for the “e-ballot” system, raising confidentiality concerns as well the very real possibility it would not be ready in time for the elections currently slated for June 17.

A document distributed to all 193 countries ahead of the meeting outlining the options stated that such a system "would take approximately 1.5 months to go through development and tests” before being in a position to deploy.

“At this stage in a normal campaign you’d have a torrent of musical events, drinks parties and one-to-one backroom meetings,” Mr. Gowan said.

Canada played host to one of the last big events before the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic. On March 5, about 100 ambassadors were invited to a Celine Dion concert at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn. “I’ve never been to a pop concert, or to any concert, so to me it was quite an experience,” said India’s ambassador at the time, Syed Akbaruddin. Officials at the Canadian mission said no government funds were used to purchase tickets to see Ms. Dion, who is also a UN goodwill ambassador.

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India and Mexico are running uncontested in these elections. The Security Council has 10 rotating seats that are distributed on a regional basis to ensure equity. The United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – also known as the P5 – make up the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the council.

Djibouti and Kenya are vying for one free seat in the African group. Canada is in a tight three-way race with allies Ireland and Norway for two seats that will become available in January, 2021, in the Western European and Others Group (WEOG).

Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, described Ottawa’s position on the two voting options as “agnostic” as long as the procedure selected is safe, efficient and confidential.

Like the other two WEOG candidates, Canada has shifted its campaign resources to support the global fight against COVID-19. “This is the most important challenge that the world has faced since World War II and the creation of the United Nations,” Mr. Blanchard said.

Norway’s ambassador, Mona Juul, said the vote must be done “in line with the necessary COVID-19 measures.” But she stressed that it was “important for the UN to do its utmost to maintain the elections of non-permanent members of the Security Council as scheduled in June.”

Six years ago, the General Assembly agreed to move the elections from October to June to give incoming members more time to prepare for their two-year tenure. Most countries were against the idea of postponing the elections, according to diplomats who followed Friday’s virtual meeting.

The president of the General Assembly is expected to present a final proposal for approval next week. There is one catch. Right now member states have no way to vote without meeting in person, so they have been making decisions by consensus. Theoretically, that means one country could block the entire elections process.

The town hall meeting with ambassadors included a visual presentation of possible locations to send groups of diplomats to cast the secret ballots on behalf of their country. The lobby of the Secretariat building or the General Assembly hall – where the vote is usually held – were the two options put forward. The diplomats would arrive in predetermined numbers, show their ID, cast their votes, and then exit through another door.

“For example, each 30-minute time slot could be allotted for 20 Member States,” reads the voting options document. Elections in the WEOG regional group have become more competitive in recent years. Multiple rounds of voting are commonplace, which means the in-person voting could go on for days.

Security Council elections have been held in the General Assembly hall since the UN opened its New York headquarters in 1952. There were 11 Security Council members at the time and the elected countries needed only 40 votes to get the required two-thirds majority to win a seat. Today, the magic number would be 129, if all member states turned out to vote.

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