26. Under item 9 of the agenda, the General Assembly was called upon to elect seven members of the World Heritage Committee, to replace the following seven members whose mandate would expire at the end of the 29th session of the General Conference: China, Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Philippines and Spain. The list of candidates was read out to the General Assembly: Angola, Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Spain announced the withdrawal of its candidature and requested that their votes should go to Portugal. The Legal Adviser read out the voting procedures for the secret ballot and the President decided upon a secret ballot, in accordance with Article 13.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. The Director of the World Heritage Centre recalled that Article 8 of the Convention provides that election of members of the Committee shall ensure an equitable representation of the different regions of the world. He noted that Group II was not represented.
27. The results of the first ballot were as follows:
Number of States Parties eligible to vote: 151
Number of voters: 119
Number of abstentions and invalid papers: 1
Majority required: 60
Greece (53 votes); Finland (47); Mexico (40); Portugal (39); Thailand (38); Zimbabwe (36); China (35); Panama (35); Saudi Arabia (34); Egypt (33); Republic of Korea (31); Hungary (30); Tunisia (24); Costa Rica (22); Mali (22); Switzerland (22); Czech Republic (19); Pakistan (18); Vietnam (18); Poland (17); Turkey (17); Bulgaria (15); Guatemala (13); Malawi (13); Yemen (13); Angola (12); Mozambique (11); Guinea (10); Armenia (9); Ghana (9); Slovak Republic (8); Romania (6); Croatia (5).
28. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, the second ballot was to be limited to those States having obtained the greatest number of votes, provided that the number of States did not exceed twice the number of seats remaining to be filled, which was fourteen. After discussion, the General Assembly decided to increase this number to sixteen, as Costa Rica, Mali and Switzerland had obtained the same number of votes (22).
The results of the second ballot were as follows:
Number of voters:128
Abstentions: 0
Invalid papers: 1
Majority required: 64
Greece (82); Zimbabwe (74); Finland (61); Thailand (54); Portugal (52); Hungary (51); Egypt (50); Mexico (49); Republic of Korea (48); Saudi Arabia (45); China (44); Panama (40); Mali (35); Switzerland (35); Costa Rica (33); Tunisia (33).
The President of the General Assembly declared Greece and Zimbabwe as elected.
29. Five seats remained to be filled and a third ballot was organized with twice the number of candidate States, ten. The results of the third ballot were as follows:
Number of voters: 124
Majority required: 62
Abstentions: 0
Invalid papers: 2
Finland (61); Hungary (60); Egypt (60); Republic of Korea (55); Mexico (54); Saudi Arabia (53); Portugal (52); China (52); Thailand (49); Panama (35).
No country was elected.
30. The Delegate of Panama announced the withdrawal of his country's candidature and requested that their votes go to Mexico. The Delegate of Mexico thanked Panama. The Delegate of the Republic of Korea indicated that he wished the names of the States candidates for election to be announced orally, in order to note the position of the Republic of Korea as fourth on the list. Although already indicated on the blackboard, the Director of the World Heritage Centre announced the list of States concerned by the last ballot. The President of the General Assembly then recalled on the one hand that the delegates should encircle five countries from the nine on the voting papers, and on the other, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, only a simple majority was required in the fourth ballot.
The results of the fourth ballot were as follows:
Number of voters: 128
Abstentions: 0
Invalid papers: 0
Elected:
Finland (71); Hungary (63); Mexico (61); Republic of Korea (60); Thailand (54); Egypt (51); Saudi Arabia (49); Portugal (48); China (43).
The President of the General Assembly declared as elected the following States: Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Republic of Korea and Thailand.
31. The Delegates of the seven elected countries thanked those countries who voted in their favour and promised to work for the World Heritage Convention.
32. The President of the General Assembly then announced the names of the new members of the Committee (Finland, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Zimbabwe) as well as the composition of the new World Heritage Committee.