India has been voted onto the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for three years starting from 2025 with a resounding vote of 181 out of 187 valid votes cast.
After the election conducted on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reaffirmed India's commitment to developmental agendas, stating on X: "India is committed to being a voice for development concerns and continue working towards making the ECOSOC stronger."
He thanked those countries which supported India, valuing their "overwhelming support and reposing their trust in us," and sent regards to India's UN Mission diplomats for their relentless efforts in getting the seat.
India's new term will be at least its 18th term on ECOSOC. The country previously had a steady presence on the council between 2008 and 2020.
Being the main UN forum which unites all 193 member states to discuss international economic and sustainable development issues, ECOSOC has 54 members. One-third of the seats are up for election every year under the council's rotation process, with 18 slots available in this cycle.
This year, four were distributed to the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to India, China, which was seeking re-election as it completes its term this year, also won 180 votes, while Lebanon and Turkmenistan also received 183 votes each. All four were uncontested and enjoyed the backing of their regional group.
Conversely, the Eastern European group had a competitive election. Without an agreement on a list of candidates, five countries competed for the three seats that were available in the region. Ukraine and Croatia gained seats in the first round with 130 and 140 votes respectively, exceeding the two-thirds threshold. Russia, with 108 votes, fell into a runoff with Belarus, which had 96. North Macedonia fell out after gaining 59 votes.
During the second round, 23 nations abstained, thus bringing the two-thirds requirement down. Russia won the runoff with 115 votes, while Belarus had only 46.
Further, the United States of America and Germany were also elected through by-elections to replace Italy and Liechtenstein, who resigned from the council.
India will be joining other South Asian nations that are currently members of ECOSOC, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
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