Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela won coveted seats at the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Turkey suffered a humbling defeat in its bid to join the world’s “top table”.
The five countries garnered the required two-thirds support from the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly during three rounds of voting that ended with Turkey picking up only 60 votes.
Turkey had been competing against New Zealand and Spain for two seats and had dispatched Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on a high-profile mission to New York this week to lobby for votes.
Angola, Malaysia and Venezuela were virtually assured to win election as their candidacies had been put forward by their region and they ran unopposed on their slates.
After New Zealand’s resounding victory in the first ballot, Foreign Minister Murray McCully called the outcome a “strong vote of confidence” in his country, capping a 10-year campaign for the ultimate diplomatic prize.
