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Portugal and Austria defeat Germany for seats on UN Security Council

Portugal and Austria defeated Germany for seats on the powerful but deeply divided UN Security Council on Wednesday in a hotly contested race after intense…

By Samantha Johnson / June 3, 2026

Portugal and Austria defeated Germany for seats on the powerful but deeply divided UN Security Council on Wednesday in a hotly contested race after intense campaigning.

The 10 rotating seats on the 15-member Security Council are earmarked for different regions of the world.

The assembly elects five countries by secret ballot every year to serve two-year terms alongside the council’s five permanent veto-wielding members – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.

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In the other contested race, after four rounds of voting in the 193-member General Assembly, Kyrgyzstan defeated the Philippines by a vote of 143-49 and will join the council for the first time.

Zimbabwe, the African candidate, and Caribbean candidate Trinidad and Tobago had no opponents and both were elected with more than 180 votes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Jeenbek Kulubayev reacts in New York on Wednesday after Kyrgyzstan defeated the Philippines for a seat on the UN Security Council. Photo: Reuters
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Jeenbek Kulubayev reacts in New York on Wednesday after Kyrgyzstan defeated the Philippines for a seat on the UN Security Council. Photo: Reuters

In the race for the two seats for the group of mainly Western nations, Portugal received 134 votes and Austria 131 votes, while Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse which had served six previous terms on the council, received 104 votes.

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