An ordinary election for the first full bench of 18 judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the first resumption of the 1st session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute in New York between 4 and 7 February 2003.

Background The judges elected at this election were to take office on 11 March 2003. Six judges were to remain in office until 2006 (re-eligible), six until 2009 (not re-eligible) and another six for the whole nine-year term until 2012 (not re-eligible).

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 on the nomination and election of judges were adopted by the Assembly of States Parties in September 2002.

Nomination process The nomination period for the 2003 election lasted from 9 September to 30 November 2002. 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 René Blattmann X X X X X X Marc Bossuyt X X X Maureen Harding Clark X X X Ion Diaconu X X X Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra X X X Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan X X X Adrian Fulford X X X Ioannis Giannidis X X X Dimitar Gochev X X X Bunchhat Heng Vong X X X Karl T. Hudson-Phillips X X X Claude Jorda X X X Ivo Josipović X X X X X X Hajnalka Kárpáti X X X X X X Hans-Peter Kaul X X X Philippe Kirsch X X X Erkki Kourula X X X Akua Kuenyehia X X X Kamugumya S. K. Lugakingira X X X X X X Doudou Ndir X X X Rafael Nieto Navia X X X Daniel D. N. Nsereko X X X Elizabeth Odio Benito X X X Barbara Liliane Ott X X X Gheorghios M. Pikis X X X Navanethem Pillay X X X Mauro Politi X X X X X X Víctor Rodríguez-Cedeño X X X Mory Ousmane Sissoko X X X Tuiloma Neroni Slade X X X Raymond C. Sock X X X Sang-hyun Song X X X Sylvia H. de Figueiredo Steiner X X X Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga X X X Anita Ušacka X X X X X X X X X Boštjan Zupančič X X X 22 21 10 6 7 8 12 10 33

The candidatures of Luís María Benítez Riera of Paraguay and of Kocou A. Capo-Chichi of Benin were withdrawn.

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. The following minimum voting requirements applied initially:

Regarding the List A or B requirement, there was a minimum voting requirement for nine judges from List A and five judges from List B.

Regarding the regional criteria, there were minimum voting requirements for three African, two Asian, two Eastern European, three Latin American and Caribbean and three Western European and other judges. The base requirement was three judges from each regional group, but this was reduced by one for the Asian and Eastern European groups because each comprised fewer than one sixth of the States Parties at the time.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was a minimum voting requirement for six female and six male judges.

The regional and gender requirements could be adjusted according to the number of candidates. The minimum voting requirements were also updated after each ballot to account for judges already elected. Regional and gender requirements that could no longer be jointly fulfilled were discontinued, and all remaining regional and gender requirements were dropped after the fourth ballot. The List A or B requirement remained active until a sufficient number of judges had been elected from each list.

The voting requirements were as follows:

Criterion Ex ante voting requirement Number of candidates Adjusted voting requirement Adjusted requirement equals ex ante?Lists A or B List A 9 22 9 List B 5 21 5 Regional criteria African states 3 10 3 Asian states 2 6 2 Eastern European states 2 7 2 Latin American and Caribbean States 3 8 3 Western European and other States 3 12 3 Gender criteria Female 6 10 6 Male 6 33 6

Ballots The ballots took place from 4 to 7 February 2003. The results were as follows:

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 4 February 5 February 6 February 7 February Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 Number of States Parties voting 83 80 83 83 85 85 85 85 85 85 85 Two-thirds majority 56 54 56 56 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 Maureen Harding Clark List A Western European and Other States Female 65 elected Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra List A African States Female 65 elected Sang-hyun Song List A Asian States Male 63 elected Sylvia H. de Figueiredo Steiner List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female 61 elected Akua Kuenyehia List B African States Female 60 elected Elizabeth Odio Benito List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female 60 elected Navanethem Pillay List B African States Female 56 elected Karl T. Hudson-Phillips List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male 53 49 56 elected Gheorghios M. Pikis List A Asian States Male 43 47 50 60 elected Philippe Kirsch List B Western European and Other States Male 55 46 54 57 elected Erkki Kourula List B Western European and Other States Male 51 53 54 56 elected Adrian Fulford List A Western European and Other States Male 42 45 47 50 50 54 53 52 59 elected Anita Ušacka List B Eastern European States Female 46 31 37 52 49 51 50 55 59 elected Hans-Peter Kaul List B Western European and Other States Male 43 45 48 47 54 50 50 46 57 elected René Blattmann List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 30 27 30 39 48 51 51 46 48 50 49 Mauro Politi List B Western European and Other States Male 46 46 49 52 54 44 41 42 49 47 47 Claude Jorda List A Western European and Other States Male 43 43 43 46 45 44 46 43 46 45 45 Ivo Josipović List B Eastern European States Male 26 30 39 47 49 42 41 39 45 44 38 Barbara Liliane Ott List A Western European and Other States Female 45 36 36 38 39 44 42 34 37 31 34 Tuiloma Neroni Slade List A Asian States Male 34 30 33 32 34 43 46 44 42 39 31 List A African States Male 30 19 21 30 27 37 37 33 36 29 30 Doudou Ndir List A African States Male 39 17 19 19 19 27 27 26 26 19 18 Bunchhat Heng Vong List B Asian States Male 15 10 8 8 6 5 7 10 10 9 9 List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 18 7 11 9 9 11 9 9 withdrawn List B Western European and Other States Male 28 24 22 35 26 21 17 withdrawn Boštjan Zupančič List A Eastern European States Male 27 27 27 23 10 withdrawn Ioannis Giannidis List A Western European and Other States Male 14 15 18 11 8 withdrawn Hajnalka Kárpáti List A Eastern European States Female 35 26 24 20 8 withdrawn Dimitar Gochev List B Eastern European States Male 18 18 20 21 5 withdrawn List A Eastern European States Female 36 26 24 15 5 withdrawn Ion Diaconu List B Eastern European States Male 23 23 20 15 withdrawn Víctor Rodríguez-Cedeño List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 20 9 10 8 withdrawn List A Western European and Other States Male 28 24 19 withdrawn Rafael Nieto Navia List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 16 7 8 withdrawn Mory Ousmane Sissoko List A African States Male 9 7 7 withdrawn Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan List B Asian States Male 27 11 6 withdrawn Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga List A Asian States Male 14 7 6 withdrawn List A African States Male 14 8 5 withdrawn List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 18 10 withdrawn Marc Bossuyt List B Western European and Other States Male 20 9 withdrawn Daniel D. N. Nsereko List B African States Male 20 9 withdrawn Raymond C. Sock List B African States Male 9 withdrawn Kamugumya S. K. Lugakingira List A African States Male 8 withdrawn

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 7 February Round 12 Round 13 Round 14 Round 15 Round 16 Round 17 Round 18 Round 19 Round 20 Round 21 Round 22 Number of States Parties voting 85 84 84 84 85 85 85 85 85 85 83 Two-thirds majority 57 56 56 56 57 57 57 57 57 57 56 René Blattmann List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 52 57 elected Mauro Politi List B Western European and Other States Male 48 46 45 48 52 52 52 54 56 58 elected Claude Jorda List A Western European and Other States Male 47 47 50 48 47 47 47 49 48 49 45 Tuiloma Neroni Slade List A Asian States Male 29 27 25 22 28 28 39 39 37 42 44 Ivo Josipović List B Eastern European States Male 40 42 37 41 40 41 45 42 39 37 40 List A African States Male 31 29 27 24 26 24 21 20 23 20 14 Doudou Ndir List A African States Male 16 15 10 15 15 16 15 13 13 12 10 Barbara Liliane Ott List A Western European and Other States Female 33 31 25 22 19 17 withdrawn Bunchhat Heng Vong List B Asian States Male 8 6 5 5 withdrawn

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 7 February Round 23 Round 24 Round 25 Round 26 Round 27 Round 28 Round 29 Round 30 Round 31 Round 32 Round 33 Number of States Parties voting 85 84 85 85 85 85 84 84 83 83 80 Two-thirds majority 57 56 57 57 57 57 56 56 56 56 54 Tuiloma Neroni Slade List A Asian States Male 45 46 46 49 52 58 elected Claude Jorda List A Western European and Other States Male 45 44 44 44 44 41 40 46 50 53 57 List A African States Male 24 20 19 17 19 16 12 8 3 6 23 Ivo Josipović List B Eastern European States Male 37 35 36 40 42 38 32 30 30 24 withdrawn Doudou Ndir List A African States Male withdrawn

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. In this election, all but one of the targets where achieved:

Criterion Initial minimal voting requirement Corresponding number of judges elected? List A 9 List B 5 African 3 Asian 2 Eastern European 2 Latin American and Caribbean 3 Western European and other 3 Female 6 Male 6

Note that the minimum voting requirements according to region and gender were dropped after the 4th ballot and were thus no longer being imposed when a sixth male judge and the only Eastern European judge were elected in the 9th ballot.

Lots were drawn to assign the 18 elected judges to the different initial term lengths as follows:

3 years 6 years 9 years

References