NEW YORK, United States / RankWire.AI / – The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council have elected five judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for nine-year terms beginning on February 6, 2027. The votes took place on Tuesday, November 3, at UN headquarters in New York. The two bodies voted separately but at the same time, by secret ballot, as the court’s statute requires.
The elected judges are Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, François Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan, Rena Lee of Singapore and Phoebe Okowa of Kenya. Candidates needed an absolute majority in both bodies, meaning 97 votes in the 193-member General Assembly and eight votes in the 15-member Security Council. Both organs must elect the same candidates. Akande, Alabrune and Lee will join the court as new members.
Four candidates were elected in the first round. In the General Assembly, Lee received 151 votes, Alabrune 146, Akande 129 and Hmoud 106. In the Security Council, Alabrune and Lee each won 13 votes, Akande 11 and Hmoud 10, according to UN press releases. Kenya’s Okowa secured the fifth seat in a third round, after the second round failed to produce a winner. Ecuador’s Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez also won a Security Council majority in the first round, with nine votes.
Okowa wins in third round
Nine candidates contested the five seats. Charles Chernor Jalloh of Sierra Leone withdrew before the third round, while Jin-Hyun Paik of South Korea and Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez of Ecuador withdrew during it. In the third round, Okowa received 183 votes in the General Assembly and 13 in the Security Council. Peru’s Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza was the remaining candidate. She received two votes in the General Assembly in the final round.
Hmoud and Okowa are currently serving on the court after being elected in 2025 to fill vacant seats. Hmoud replaced Nawaf Salam of Lebanon, who resigned, while Okowa replaced Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia. Their current terms expire on February 5, 2027. The new members will replace Ronny Abraham of France, Dalveer Bhandari of India and Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant of Brazil, whose terms also end then.
Court renews a third of seats
The ICJ, based in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It comprises 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms, with one-third of its membership renewed every three years. Judges may be re-elected. No two judges may be nationals of the same state. The court marked its 80th anniversary earlier this year, when UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed a ceremony at the Peace Palace.
Under the court’s statute, judges must be of high moral character and qualified for the highest judicial offices in their countries or be recognised experts in international law. The court as a whole should represent the main forms of civilisation and the principal legal systems of the world. The court settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions. Guterres has repeatedly urged early action to prevent conflicts.