Editing United Nations General Assembly (section)

== Elections ==
[[File:United National General Assembly.svg|thumb|275px|Division of the General Assembly by membership in the five United Nations Regional Groups: 
{{legend|#0000ff| The Group of African States (54)}}
{{legend|#339900| The Group of Asia-Pacific States (54)}}
{{legend|#cc0000| The Group of Eastern European States (23)}}
{{legend|#cc3399| The Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (33)}}
{{legend|#cc9900| The Group of Western European and Other States (28)}}
{{legend|#000000| No group}}]]

The General Assembly is entrusted in the United Nations Charter with electing members to various organs within the United Nations system. The procedure for these elections can be found in Section 15 of the Rules of Procedure for the General Assembly. The most important elections for the General Assembly include those for the upcoming [[President of the United Nations General Assembly|President of the General Assembly]], the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]], the [[Economic and Social Council of the United Nations|Economic and Social Council]], the [[United Nations Human Rights Council|Human Rights Council]], the [[International Court of Justice]], judges of the [[United Nations Dispute Tribunal]], and [[United Nations Appeals Tribunal]]. Most elections are held annually, with the exception of the election of judges to the ICJ, which happens triennially.<ref name="RULES/PROCEDURE"/><ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Statute of the International Court of Justice |wslink=Charter of the United Nations |date=26 June 1945 |publisher=United Nations |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

The Assembly annually elects five non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms, 18 members of the Economic and Social Council for three-year terms, and 14–18 members of the Human Rights Council for three-year terms. It also elects the leadership of the next General Assembly session, i.e. the next President of the General Assembly, the 21 vice presidents, and the bureaux of the six main committees.<ref name="RULES/PROCEDURE"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12204.doc.htm |title=General Assembly Elects 14 Member States to Human Rights Council, Appoints New Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services |author=United Nations |date=17 October 2019 |website=United Nations Meetings Coverage & Press Releases |publisher=United Nations |access-date=19 January 2020 |archive-date=2 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102013024/https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12204.doc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ELECTION">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12149.doc.htm |title=Delegates Elect Permanent Representative of Nigeria President of Seventy-Fourth General Assembly by Acclamation, Also Choosing 20 Vice-Presidents |author=United Nations |date=4 June 2019 |website=United Nations Meetings Coverage & Press Releases |publisher=United Nations |access-date=15 September 2019 |archive-date=15 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915081324/https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12149.doc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Elections to the International Court of Justice take place every three years in order to ensure continuity within the court. In these elections, five judges are elected for nine-year terms. These elections are held jointly with the Security Council, with candidates needing to receive an absolute majority of the votes in both bodies.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.icj-cij.org/en/members |title=Members of the Court |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=International Court of Justice |access-date=19 January 2020 |archive-date=24 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124120311/https://www.icj-cij.org/en/members |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Assembly also, in conjunction with the Security Council, [[United Nations Secretary-General selection|selects the next secretary-general]] of the United Nations. The main part of these elections is held in the Security Council, with the General Assembly simply appointing the candidate that receives the Council's nomination.<ref name="SWISS HANDBOOK">{{cite book |last1=Ruder |first1=Nicole |last2=Nakano |first2=Kenji |last3=Aeschlimann |first3=Johann |editor1-last=Aeschlimann |editor1-first=Johann |editor2-last=Regan |editor2-first=Mary |date=2017 |title=The GA Handbook: A practical guide to the United Nations General Assembly |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/mission-new-york/en/documents/UN_GA__Final.pdf |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations |pages=61–65 |isbn=978-0-615-49660-3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122005435/https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/mission-new-york/en/documents/UN_GA__Final.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Regional groups ===
[[File:United Nations Economic and Social Council Membership.svg|thumb|275px|Division of seats of the Economic and Social Council based on regional grouping:
{{legend|#0000ff|African States (14)}}
{{legend|#339900|Asia-Pacific States (11)}}
{{legend|#cc0000|Eastern European States (6)}}
{{legend|#cc3399|Latin American and Caribbean States (10)}}
{{legend|#cc9900|Western European and Other States (13)}}]]

The [[United Nations Regional Groups]] were created in order to facilitate the equitable geographical distribution of seats among the Member States in different United Nations bodies. Resolution 33/138 of the General Assembly states that "the composition of the various organs of the United Nations should be so constituted as to ensure their representative character." Thus, member states of the United Nations are informally divided into five regions, with most bodies in the United Nations system having a specific number of seats allocated for each regional group. Additionally, the leadership of most bodies also rotates between the regional groups, such as the presidency of the General Assembly and the chairmanship of the six main committees.<ref name="SWISS HANDBOOK"/><ref>{{UN doc |docid=A/RES/33/138 |body=A |session=33 |type=E |resolution_number=138 |title=Question of the composition of the relevant organs of the United Nations: amendments to rules 31 and 28 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly to rules |date=19 December 1978 |access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="UN ENCYCLOPEDIA">{{cite book |last=Winkelmann |first=Ingo |s2cid=159105596 |date=2010 |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations |editor1-last=Volger |editor1-first=Helmut |edition=2nd  |location=Leiden |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |pages=592–96 |isbn=978-90-04-18004-8 }}</ref>

The regional groups work according to the consensus principle. Candidates who are endorsed by them are, as a rule, elected by the General Assembly in any subsequent elections.<ref name="UN ENCYCLOPEDIA"/>