United Nations, Jun 9 (PTI) Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland were elected to the UN Security Council as non-permanent members for the 2023-2024 term and will replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway at the horse-shoe table from January 1 next year.

The 193-member UN General Assembly held elections on Thursday to elect the five non-permanent members for the two-year term 2023-24.

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For two seats in the Western Europe and other States category, Switzerland (187 votes) and Malta (185 votes) were elected, for two seats in African and Asia-Pacific States Mozambique (192 votes) and Japan (184 votes) were elected and for the one seat in the Latin American and Caribbean States category, Ecuador was elected with 190 votes.

India's Permanent Mission to the UN congratulated the newly-elected members and wished “them the best for a fruitful and productive tenure.”

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Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland will join Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the UAE as well as the five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US as UNSC members for the year 2023.

India's two-year term at the UNSC as non-permanent member will end in December 2022, when it was also hold the Presidency of the powerful UN organ.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the 15-nation Council, saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st century.

On the issue of "categories of membership", the G4 nations of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have said that only when the permanent seats are expanded, can the decisions of the Council reflect the interests of the broader membership.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)