The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday elected Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Latvia and Liberia as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2026.

The 15-member Security Council is the only UN body that can take binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing the use of force.

It has five permanent members, all of whom have veto power: Britain, China, France, Russia and the US. The other ten are elected, with five new members added each year.

Bahrain, Colombia, DR Congo, Latvia and Liberia will replace Algeria, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Guyana and Slovenia.

In order to ensure a fair geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. However, even when a country is nominated without an opponent from its group, it is still required to secure the support of at least 2/3 of the General Assembly.

Bahrain received 186 votes, DR Congo 183, Liberia 181, Colombia 180 and Latvia 178.

Yesterday Monday, former German diplomatic chief Annalena Berbock was elected to the presidency of the UN General Assembly, after a process that drew strong criticism from inside and outside Germany, both on how she was nominated as a candidate and whether she was actually qualified for the position. The new president’s term of office starts in September and is for one year.