India will replace Indonesia, whose term ends at the end of the year, on the Council and join Vietnam as one of the two non-permanent Asian members. Running unopposed for the seat for Latin American and Caribbean countries, Mexico won with 187 votes. The 10 non-permanent Security Council seats are distributed among five regional groups and elections are held every year for the five that fall vacant on alternate years. But there were contested elections for the three other seats. Canada was routed in its bid for one of the two seats allotted to the group made up of West European countries and others like Canada and Australia that do not fit in elsewhere.

In a setback to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who personally campaigned hard for the seat, it received only 108 votes. Norway with 130 votes and Ireland with 128 were elected to the two seats. Neither Kenya nor Djibouti received a two-thirds majority and a runoff is to be held later. Kenya, which received 113 votes for the African seat had the endorsement of the continent’s countries, while Djibouti which counted on a rift between the Arab and Non-Arab nations in the group received 78 votes.