Today: 16 October 2025
10 November 2023
2 mins read

ICJ Judicial Elections Reflect Global Tensions

Kirill Gevorgian of Russia, who was the Vice-President of the ICJ and was backed also by China, lost to Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu of Romania from the East Group…reports Asian Lite News

 A Russian judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has lost re-election in a sign of the polarisation at the world organisation where the opposition to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine carried over to the judicial elections.

A candidate from Africa backed by China was also defeated in the elections held simultaneously at the Security Council and the General Assembly on Thursday.

Kirill Gevorgian of Russia, who was the Vice-President of the ICJ and was backed also by China, lost to Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu of Romania from the East Group.

Kesia-Mbe Mindua of Congo, nominated by only his country and China, lost to Dire Tladi from South Africa. 

Elections were held to fill five vacancies on the 15-member Hague-based ICJ, popularly known as the World Court, where judges serve nine-year terms, unless they are elected to fill a mid-term vacancy, and five end their terms every three years.

A sitting judge, Hilary Charlesworth of Australia, was re-elected.

Sarah Hull Cleveland of the US was elected and will take the place of fellow American Joan Donoghue, who is retiring.

Donoghue is currently the Court’s President and her term runs out early next year.

The candidates needed a simple majority — at least 97 in the Assembly and eight in the Council — for election.

In Thursday’s election, the five successful candidates prevailed in the first round of Assembly voting, while it took five rounds in the Council. 

Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo Verduzco of Mexico was the other candidate to win the election, polling the highest number of votes in both the Council, 13 votes, and the Assembly, 143.

Cleveland received the second-highest number of votes, 135 in the Assembly and 12 in the Council.

Gevorgian received 77 votes in the Assembly and in the Council’s fifth round five votes.

Mindua received only two votes in the Council and 65 in the Assembly.

Two other candidates, Chaloka Beyani of Zambia and Ahmed Amin Fathalla of Egypt also lost their bid for the ICJ bench.

Although the judgeships are not officially distributed by nationality or region, in practice a pattern of regional distribution is often followed in practice.

The permanent members of the Security Council also traditionally had one of their nationals on the ICJ bench.

These patterns were spectacularly broken in 2018 when India’s Dalveer Bhandari was elected defeating UK’s Christopher Greenwood when the 193-member General Assembly, where Bhandari received 121 votes, prevailed over the Security Council, which backed Greenwood and the UK pulled his candidacy.

Now neither the UK nor Russia will be represented on the bench

ALSO READ-US, S. Korea Concerned Over Growing Russia-N. Korea Military Ties

Previous Story

Israel Implements Daily Humanitarian Pause in Gaza

Next Story

White House Brushes Off Polls, Touts Democrat Wins in Off-Year Elections

Latest from -Top News

India wins unopposed seat on UNHRC

India last served on the HRC in 2024, completing a second consecutive term….reports Asian Lite News India has been elected unopposed to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for the seventh time,

Relief Rolls In, Restrictions Remain in Gaza

Israeli official noted an Israeli statement saying it would limit the number of aid truckloads entering the Gaza Strip to 300 daily…reports Asian Lite News Relief operations in Gaza have intensified since

‘A Day to Rejoice’

In its statement, British Friends of Israel saluted the courage and resilience of the hostages and expressed deep sorrow for those who did not survive captivity After 737 days of anguish, the

UK to Lead Gaza Rebuild

PM announces an additional £20 million aid package aimed at providing essential water, sanitation and hygiene services to tens of thousands of people Prime Minister Keir Starmer attended the signing ceremony of

UK to host summit on Gaza recovery plan

The three-day conference, beginning Monday afternoon, will take place at Wilton Park, the Foreign Office’s policy forum based in West Sussex The UK will host an international summit on the recovery and
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Over 2,500 captives released in Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange

The preparations for a new prisoner swap between the two

Ukrainian President: Kiev is ready to implement Minsk agreements

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Kiev is