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Human Rights Council Vote Flawed by Two Errors,
Kerim Admits, Spain Demands Improvements
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
May 28 -- Further irregularities have emerged concerning the
Human Rights Council elections held in the UN General Assembly last
week. In
one contested race, the UK beat out Spain for a seat by a single vote,
with two
ballots called "invalid." When Inner City Press asked the spokesman
for General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim to explain on what basis
the
ballots were deemed invalid, he declined to provide the answer. At
Srgjan
Kerim's press conference the following day, despite a statement just
before the
vote that the question could be asked, no question was permitted on the
issue.
Nor has any update been provided since.
Until
Srgjan Kerim issued
a letter apologizing for even further and more serious
errors. He wrote:
"I wish to bring to your attention
a matter relating to the election by the General Assembly of 15 members
of the
Human Rights Council that took place during the 98th plenary meeting
yesterday,
21 May 2008.
"With regard to the results of the balloting for the two seats from
among the Western
European and other States, I have been informed by the Secretariat that
there were
two recording errors by the Secretariat: one in the number of
abstention ballots
and the other in the number of Members voting.
Srgjan Kerim (with Mike Bloomberg),
Human Rights Council voting snafu not shown or answered
"The registration for abstention should have been 1 (one)
instead of 10 and the number of Members voting should have been 189 (192
ballots
received, minus two invalid ballots, minus one abstention ballot)
instead of 182."
On
such a simple vote, two major errors? Spain has written its response,
which
Inner City Press is putting online here. But this is
a new low, and as Spain
argues, things must improve. And questions must be answered.
Watch this site.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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