There are 5 countries in the Protection Council, five permanent members – the United States, the Russian Federation, China, France, Britain – those who have the option of using veto rights.
The other 10 temporary members were selected for a two -year term. For this, five members are elected by voting in the UN General Assembly every year.
The five member states elected on Tuesday, January 5, 2026, will be part of the Security Council with the five temporary member states already – Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, which is expected to expire in December 2026.
There are 4 members of the UN General Assembly. Regional representation is also taken in the selection of member states of the Security Council. In elections through secret voting, seats are allotted on the basis of regional groups.
It is distributed to four regional groups on a geographical basis: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and Caribbean; Western European and State Group
On Tuesday, 4 member states attended the General Assembly for voting, where only one round of voting was held.
In the African and Asia-Pacific Group, Bahrain received 66 votes, Congo Democratic Republic got 5 votes and Liberia got 5 votes.
Latvia got 178 votes in the eastern European group, while 10 countries did not participate in voting. Colombia received 180 votes in Latin America and the Caribbean Group. Eight countries did not participate in voting.
Latvia, first member member
Latvia will temporarily be a member of the Security Council for the first time in her history. In addition, all the other elected countries were members of the first security council.
Colombia is a temporary member seven times, the DRC has served twice and Bahrain and Liberia once.
In the United Nations Mahasabha, two members of the Member State, two-thirds of the members present during the voting, and it is necessary to participate in it.
Under the United Nations Charter, the main responsibility of the Protection Council with 4 member states is to maintain international peace and protection and to comply with all the member states.