Greece elected to UN Security Council as non-permanent member

Athens: Greece has been elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a third time. The country will hold the seat for the 2025-2026 term.

As there were five candidate countries for the five non-permanent member positions, the country’s election was certain. Yet, its nomination garnered 182 votes from the General Assembly.

The Security Council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force. It has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Welcoming the decision, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the election represented great responsibility for the country, which follows a principled foreign policy. While its decisions may not make everyone happy, it had a lot to offer. He added that Greece would use the position to support Cyprus.

“Today is a historic day for Greece, for our country’s imprint in the world. The UN General Assembly voted predominantly in favour of our country. This is a great success. This shows the important capital that Greece has in the world, in the international environment,” Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said.

Foreign Ministry said: “Greece understands the great international responsibility. We will work along with UN member-states to strengthen peace and security and ensure that global governance can effectively address emerging challenges.”

The other four new non-permanent members are Somalia, Pakistan, Panama and Denmark. The five elected members will begin their term on January 1, replacing Mozambique, Japan, Ecuador, Malta and Switzerland.

To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. But even if candidates are running unopposed in their group, they still need to win the support of more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

Greece was last on the Security Council in 2005-2006. Its first term was in 1952-1953.