An ordinary election for six judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the resumption of the 4th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in New York on 26 January 2006.
Background The judges elected at this election were to take office on 11 March 2006. All six judges elected for a three-year term in 2003 were eligible for re-election, and all of them ran.
The election was governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Its article 36(8)(a) states that "[t]he States Parties shall, in the selection of judges, take into account the need, within the membership of the Court, for: (i) The representation of the principal legal systems of the world; (ii) Equitable geographical representation; and (iii) A fair representation of female and male judges."
Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists: List A contains those judges that "[h]ave established competence in criminal law and procedure, and the necessary relevant experience, whether as judge, prosecutor, advocate or in other similar capacity, in criminal proceedings"; List B contains those who "[h]ave established competence in relevant areas of international law such as international humanitarian law and the law of human rights, and extensive experience in a professional legal capacity which is of relevance to the judicial work of the Court".
Each candidate must belong to exactly one list.
Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004.
Judges remaining in office The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2006:
JudgeNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAC WEOG Female Male Maureen Harding Clark X X X Adrian Fulford X X X Claude Jorda X X X Philippe Kirsch X X X Mauro Politi X X X Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra X X X Navanethem Pillay X X X René Blattmann X X X Karl Hudson-Phillips X X X Elizabeth Odio Benito X X X Sylvia Helena de Figueiredo Steiner X X X Georghios M. Pikis X X X 8 4 2 1 0 4 5 5 7
Nomination process The nomination period of judges for the 2006 election was scheduled to last from 18 July to 9 October 2005. It was extended three times, to 23 October, 6 November and 20 November 2005, because the required number of four Eastern European candidates had not been nominated. The final extension also did not result in this requirement being fulfilled. The following persons were nominated:
NameNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAC WEOG Female Male X X X X X X Hans-Peter Kaul X X X Erkki Kourula X X X Akua Kuenyehia X X X Tuiloma Neroni Slade X X X Sang-hyun Song X X X Cheikh Tidiane Thiam X X X Ekaterina Trendafilova X X X Anita Ušacka X X X 4 6 3 2 3 0 2 4 6
The candidature of Effie Owuor of Kenya, which had been submitted on 18 October 2005, was withdrawn on 16 November 2005.
Minimum voting requirements Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that articles 36(5) and 36(8)(a) cited above were fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements applied initially.
Regarding the List A or B requirement, there was a minimum voting requirement for one judge from List A and one judge from List B.
Regarding the regional criteria, there were minimum voting requirements for one African, one Asian and two Eastern European judges.
Regarding the gender criteria, there was a minimum voting requirement for one female judge.
The regional and gender requirements could have been adjusted before the election depending on the number of candidates, pursuant to paragraphs 20 (b) and (c) of the 2004 resolution.
The minimum voting requirements are updated after each ballot to account for the judges already elected. The regional and gender requirements are dropped either if they can no longer be (jointly) fulfilled, or if after four ballots not all seats are filled. The List A or B requirement remains active until a sufficient number of judges has been elected from each list.
The voting requirements were as follows:
Criterion Number of judges required Number of judges remaining in office Ex ante voting requirement Number of candidates Adjusted voting requirement Adjusted requirement equals ex ante?Lists A or B List A 9 8 1 4 1 List B 5 4 1 6 1 Regional criteria African states 3 2 1 3 1 Asian states 2 1 1 2 1 Eastern European states 2 0 2 3 2 Latin American and Caribbean States 3 4 0 0 0 Western European and other States 3 5 0 2 0 Gender criteria Female 6 5 1 4 1 Male 6 7 0 6 0
Ballots The only ballot took place on 26 January 2006. The results were as follows:
Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender Ballot Number of States Parties voting 100 Two-thirds majority 67 Ekaterina Trendafilova List A Eastern European States Female 82 Anita Ušacka List B Eastern European States Female 77 Erkki Kourula List B Western European and Other States Male 73 Akua Kuenyehia List B African States Female 72 Sang-hyun Song List A Asian States Male 70 Hans-Peter Kaul List B Western European and Other States Male 67 Tuiloma Neroni Slade List A Asian States Male 50 List B Eastern European States Male 36 Cheikh Tidiane Thiam List B African States Male 29 List A African States Female 16
The minimum voting requirements are imposed on the ballots cast, not on the results. Thus, there is no guarantee that a corresponding number of judges is elected. However, in this election this was the case already after a single ballot.
With the exception of Judge Slade (who was replaced by Ekaterina Trendafilova) all re-eligible judges were in fact re-elected.
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