The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday elected Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Latvia, and Liberia as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a two-year term starting in January 2026. All five countries were elected in a single round of balloting, with overwhelming support from the 193-member General Assembly. Bahrain received 186 votes, DRC 183, Liberia 181, Colombia 180, and Latvia 178, with a few abstentions in each regional group. The vote filled five rotating seats: two for Africa and the Asia-Pacific, one for Latin America and the Caribbean, and one for Eastern Europe.
Latvia will serve on the Security Council for the first time, while Colombia has held a seat seven times, DRC twice, and Bahrain and Liberia once each. Speaking after the vote, DRC Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner emphasized her country’s decades-long experience with war, peacekeeping, and natural resource-driven conflict, saying it would contribute to global peace and humanitarian understanding. Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti stressed the shared commitment of newly elected members to building a more just and equitable world.
The new members will join the Council on January 1, 2026, replacing Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland, whose terms end on December 31, 2025.
