Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Latvia are new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council with a two-year mandate. The new non-permanent members join Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia, which have been non-permanent members of the UN Security Council since 1 January last year.
Regional principle of election and rotation by year
The UN Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent with the right of veto – France, Great Britain, the USA, China and Russia, and 10 are elected for a period of two years, but in such a way that five members are replaced each year.
Non-permanent members are elected according to the regional principle.
In odd years, one country from Africa, Asia and Latin America and two from the group of Western countries join the UN Security Council, and in even years, two countries from Africa and one each from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Even years are the beginning of the mandate for an Arab member as well.
Of the new non-permanent members, Colombia has the most experience, this is its eighth time joining the UN Security Council, the Democratic Republic of Congo has its third time, Bahrain and Liberia have their second, while Latvia has never been a member of the UN Security Council before.
Record holders and countries without a mandate
The world record holder is Japan, which has been elected to the UN Security Council 11 times, while more than a third of the UN member states have never been represented on the UN Security Council. Among them are Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
The SFRY has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council four times, and since its dissolution, the members of that body as independent states have been Slovenia (1998-1999 and 2004-2006), Croatia (2008-2009) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010-2011).
The two-year terms of the representatives of Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia ended on December 31, 2025.
