The race for the Security Council continues

From the Associated Press—the latest on the race between Venezuela and Guatemala to win the UN Security Council seat. I had someone ask me in a previous post whether the vote was public or not. My answer was that I thought with most votes, it was private unless there was a specific request for it to be public. This article says explicitly that it will be private, but does not explain why.

I took a look at the UN Rules of Procedure. Voting is covered on pages 27-29. Rule 127 states that any representative may request a recorded vote. I haven’t yet found anything to suggest that this particular vote will be different, unless there is an assumption that everyone wants it private.

There is a quote from the Guatemalan Foreign Minister that I found interesting, and so characteristic of U.S. policy:

''In some countries I have to admit the U.S. has come on too strong in its opposition to Venezuela,'' Rosenthal said. ``We would be happier if they would not promote our cause so much because we would like to be our own promoter.''