Security Council Elects Phoebe Okowa of Kenya to International Court of Justice

After three rounds of balloting, the Security Council today elected Phoebe Okowa (Kenya) as a member of the International Court of Justice, voting concurrently with — but separately from — the General Assembly.

The election was held to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia, effective 30 September 2025. The judge elected will serve until the end of the original term on 5 February 2027.

Four candidates had been officially nominated by their national groups: Taoheed Olufemi Elias (Nigeria), nominated by Bahrain, Italy, Latvia, Jordan, Malta, Nigeria and the Philippines; Charles Chernor Jalloh (Sierra Leone), nominated by South Africa, Burkina Faso, Canada, Ecuador, Liechtenstein, Sierra Leone and the Czech Republic; Paul Kuruk (Ghana), nominated by Ghana; and Ms. Okowa, nominated by South Africa, Colombia, Kenya, Namibia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Vanuatu.

After the first round, Ms. Okowa received 6 votes and Mr. Jalloh 5, while Mr. Elias received 3 and Mr. Kuruk received 1 before withdrawing from the race.

In the second round in the Council, Mr. Elias received 1 vote, compared with 6 for Ms. Okowa and 8 for Mr. Jalloh, after which the former also withdrew.

Although Mr. Jalloh secured the required majority in the Chamber, a third round of voting was necessary because the General Assembly reached a different result, giving an absolute majority to Ms. Okowa.

As no candidate obtained an absolute majority in both the Assembly and the Council, and in accordance with Article 11 of the Court’s statute, both organs opened new meetings to proceed with another round of voting, with the candidature of Mr. Elias withdrawn. A final round of voting in both organs resolved the divergence.

Ultimately, the Security Council and the General Assembly elected Ms. Okowa to the Court. She received 8 votes in the Council and 106 in the Assembly, defeating Mr. Jalloh who obtained 7 and 79 votes respectively. Her term begins today, 12 November, and will run until 5 February 2027.

Under the statute of the International Court of Justice, a candidate obtaining an absolute majority of votes in both organs is considered elected. In the Security Council, eight votes constitute such a majority, with no distinction made between permanent and non-permanent members. In the General Assembly, all 193 Member States are electors, and therefore, the requisite number of votes is 97. (For General Assembly results, see Press Release GA/12727.)

Located in The Hague, Netherlands, the International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Composed of 15 judges, it adjudicates between States, and its legal opinions are binding. The Court also issues non-binding advisory opinions when requested to do so.

Following today’s election, the Court’s composition will be as follows: Iwasawa Yuji (Japan), President; Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), Vice-President; Ronny Abraham (France); Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu (Romania); Dalveer Bhandari (India); Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant (Brazil); Hilary Charlesworth (Australia); Sarah Hull Cleveland (United States); Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo (Mexico); Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud (Jordan); Georg Nolte (Germany); Phoebe Okowa (Kenya); Dire Tladi (South Africa); Peter Tomka (Slovakia); and Xue Hanqin (China).

Unlike most other organs of international organizations, the Court is not composed of representatives of Governments; rather, its members are independent judges. Once elected, a member of the Court is a delegate neither of the Government of his or her own country, nor of that of any other State. Additionally, the Court may not include more than one national of the same State and must represent, as a whole, the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.

First Round of Voting

The results of the first round of voting were as follows:

Second Round of Voting

The results of the second round of voting were as follows:

Third Round of Voting

The results of the second round of voting were as follows:

Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here .