President of the United Nations General Assembly

Summary

The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly.

President of the
United Nations General Assembly
Incumbent
Dennis Francis
since 5 September 2023
United Nations General Assembly
StyleHis Excellency
StatusPresiding officer
Member ofGeneral Assembly
ResidenceNew York City ( International Territory)
SeatUnited Nations Headquarters
AppointerMember states of General Assembly
Term lengthOne year
Constituting instrumentCharter of the United Nations
Inaugural holderPaul-Henri Spaak
Formation1946
Websiteun.org/en/ga/

Election edit

 
A map of the world showing the home countries of presidents of the United Nations General Assembly up until the 72nd session of the General Assembly in 2017–18, with historical member states in inset.

The session of the assembly is scheduled for every year starting in September—any special, or emergency special, assemblies over the next year will be headed by the president of the UNGA.

The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States.[1]

Because of their powerful stature globally, some of the largest, most powerful countries have never held the presidency, such as the People's Republic of China, France, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In particular, it is customary that no permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ever serves as UNGA president.

The only modern countries that had a national elected as president of UNGA twice are Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Hungary and Nigeria; all the other member states had been represented only once by their nationals holding this office, and Germany had a national elected once as Federal Republic of Germany and once as German Democratic Republic. This does not include special and emergency special sessions of UNGA.

List of presidents edit

Year elected Image Name of president[2]
(Birth–Death)
UN member state Region Sessions
1946   Paul-Henri Spaak
(1889–1972)
  Belgium WES First
1947   Oswaldo Aranha
(1894–1960)
  Brazil LAS First special
Second
1948   José Arce
(1881–1968)
  Argentina LAS Second special
1948   Herbert Vere Evatt
(1894–1965)
  Australia COS Third
1949   Carlos P. Romulo
(1898–1985)
  Philippines EAS Fourth, First Asian president
1950   Nasrollah Entezam
(1900–1980)
  Iran EAS Fifth
1951   Luis Padilla Nervo
(1894–1985)
  Mexico LAS Sixth
1952   Lester B. Pearson
(1897–1972)
  Canada COS Seventh
1953   Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
(1900–1990)
  India COS Eighth, First woman president
1954   Eelco van Kleffens
(1894–1983)
  Netherlands WES Ninth
1955   José Maza Fernández
(1889–1964)
  Chile LAS Tenth
1956   Rudecindo Ortega (es)
(1896–1962)
  Chile LAS First emergency special
Second emergency special
1956   Wan Waithayakon
(1891–1976)
  Thailand EAS Eleventh
1957   Leslie Munro
(1901–1974)
  New Zealand COS Twelfth
Third emergency special
1958   Charles Malik
(1906–1987)
  Lebanon MES Thirteenth
1959   Víctor Andrés Belaúnde
(1893–1966)
  Peru LAS Fourteenth
Fourth emergency special
1960   Frederick Boland
(1904–1985)
  Ireland WES Fifteenth
Third special
1961   Mongi Slim
(1908–1969)
  Tunisia MES Sixteenth, First African president
1962   Muhammad Zafarullah Khan
(1893–1985)
  Pakistan COS Seventeenth
Fourth special
1963   Carlos Sosa Rodríguez (es)
(1912–1997)
  Venezuela LAS Eighteenth
1964   Alex Quaison-Sackey
(1924–1992)
  Ghana COS Nineteenth
1965   Amintore Fanfani
(1908–1999)
  Italy WES Twentieth
1966 Abdul Rahman Pazhwak
(1919–1995)
  Afghanistan Asia Twenty-first
Fifth special
Fifth emergency special
1967   Corneliu Mănescu
(1916–2000)
  Romania EEG Twenty-second
1968   Emilio Arenales Catalán
(1922–1969)
  Guatemala GRULAC Twenty-third
1969   Angie Brooks
(1928–2007)
  Liberia Africa Twenty-fourth
1970 Edvard Hambro
(1911–1977)
  Norway WEOG Twenty-fifth
1971   Adam Malik
(1917–1984)
  Indonesia Asia Twenty-sixth
1972   Stanisław Trepczyński
(1924–2002)
  Poland EEG Twenty-seventh
1973   Leopoldo Benites
(1905–1996)
  Ecuador GRULAC Twenty-eighth
Sixth special
1974   Abdelaziz Bouteflika
(1937–2021)
  Algeria Africa Twenty-ninth
Seventh special
1975   Gaston Thorn
(1928–2007)
  Luxembourg WEOG Thirtieth
1976   Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe
(1913–1980)
  Sri Lanka Asia Thirty-first
1977   Lazar Mojsov
(1920–2011)
  Yugoslavia EEG Thirty-second
Eighth special
Ninth special
Tenth special
1978   Indalecio Liévano
(1917–1982)
  Colombia GRULAC Thirty-third
1979   Salim Ahmed Salim
(born 1942)
  United Republic of Tanzania Africa Thirty-fourth
Sixth emergency special
Seventh emergency special
Eleventh special
1980   Rüdiger von Wechmar
(1923–2007)
  Federal Republic of Germany WEOG Thirty-fifth
Eighth emergency special
1981   Ismat T. Kittani
(1929–2001)
  Iraq Asia Thirty-sixth
Seventh emergency specialContinuation
Ninth emergency special
Twelfth special
1982   Imre Hollai
(1925–2017)
  Hungary EEG Thirty-seventh
1983   Jorge Illueca
(1918–2012)
  Panama GRULAC Thirty-eighth
1984 Paul J. F. Lusaka
(1935–1996)
  Zambia Africa Thirty-ninth
1985   Jaime de Piniés
(1917–2003)
  Spain WEOG Fortieth
Thirteenth special
1986 Humayun Rashid Choudhury
(1928–2001)
  Bangladesh Asia Forty-first
Fourteenth special
1987   Peter Florin
(1921–2014)
  German Democratic Republic EEG Forty-second
Fifteenth special
1988   Dante Caputo
(1943–2018)
  Argentina GRULAC Forty-third
1989   Joseph Nanven Garba
(1943–2002)
  Nigeria Africa Forty-fourth
Sixteenth special
Seventeenth special
Eighteenth special
1990   Guido de Marco
(1931–2010)
  Malta WEOG Forty-fifth
1991   Samir Shihabi
(1925–2010)
  Saudi Arabia Asia Forty-sixth
1992   Stoyan Ganev
(1955–2013)
  Bulgaria EEG Forty-seventh
1993   Rudy Insanally
(1936–2023)
  Guyana GRULAC Forty-eighth
1994   Amara Essy
(born 1944)
  Ivory Coast Africa Forty-ninth
1995   Diogo de Freitas do Amaral
(1941–2019)
  Portugal WEOG Fiftieth
1996   Razali Ismail
(born 1939)
  Malaysia Asia Fifty-first
Tenth emergency special
Nineteenth special
1997   Hennadiy Udovenko
(1931–2013)
  Ukraine EEG Fifty-second
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
Twentieth special
1998   Didier Opertti
(born 1937)
  Uruguay GRULAC Fifty-third
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
Twenty-first special
1999   Theo-Ben Gurirab
(1938–2018)
  Namibia Africa Fifty-fourth
Twenty-second special
Twenty-third special
Twenty-fourth special
2000   Harri Holkeri
(1937–2011)
  Finland WEOG Fifty-fifth
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
Twenty-fifth special
Twenty-sixth special
2001   Han Seung-soo
(born 1936)
  South Korea Asia Fifty-sixth
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
Twenty-seventh special
2002   Jan Kavan
(born 1946)
  Czech Republic EEG Fifty-seventh
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
2003   Julian Hunte
(born 1940)
  Saint Lucia GRULAC Fifty-eighth
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
2004   Jean Ping
(born 1942)
  Gabon Africa Fifty-ninth
Twenty-eighth special
2005   Jan Eliasson
(born 1940)
  Sweden WEOG Sixtieth
2006   Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa
(born 1952)
  Bahrain Asia Sixty-first
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
2007   Srgjan Kerim
(born 1948)
  North Macedonia EEG Sixty-second
2008   Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann
(1933–2017)
  Nicaragua GRULAC Sixty-third
2009   Ali Treki
(1937–2015)
  Libya Africa Sixty-fourth
2010   Joseph Deiss
(born 1946)
   Switzerland WEOG Sixty-fifth
2011   Nassir Al-Nasser[3]
(born 1952)
  Qatar Asia-Pacific Sixty-sixth
2012   Vuk Jeremić
(born 1975)
  Serbia EEG Sixty-seventh (election)
2013   John William Ashe
(1954–2016)
  Antigua and Barbuda GRULAC Sixty-eighth
2014   Sam Kutesa
(born 1949)
  Uganda Africa Sixty-ninth
Twenty-ninth special
2015   Mogens Lykketoft
(born 1946)
  Denmark WEOG Seventieth
Thirtieth special
2016   Peter Thomson
(born 1948)
  Fiji Asia-Pacific Seventy-first (election)
2017   Miroslav Lajčák
(born 1963)
  Slovakia EEG Seventy-second
Tenth emergency specialContinuation
2018   María Fernanda Espinosa
(born 1964)
  Ecuador GRULAC Seventy-third
2019   Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
(born 1957)
  Nigeria Africa Seventy-fourth
2020   Volkan Bozkır
(born 1950)
  Turkey WEOG Seventy-fifth
2021   Abdulla Shahid
(born 1962)
  Maldives Asia-Pacific Seventy-sixth
Eleventh emergency special
2022   Csaba Kőrösi
(born 1958)
  Hungary EEG Seventy-seventh
2023   Dennis Francis
(born 1956)
  Trinidad and Tobago GRULAC Seventy-eighth

Abbreviations edit

Pre-1966
Since 1966

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "About the General Assembly". United Nations. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Past Presidents". General Assembly of the United Nations. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar Elected President of General Assembly's Sixty-Sixth Session; Vice-Presidents, Main Committee Chairs Also Named". United Nations. 22 June 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Asian Group of Nations at UN Changes Its Name to Asia-Pacific Group". Radio New Zealand. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2022.

External links edit

  • UN: List of UN General Assembly presidents
  • UN General Assembly President Election Reform.
  • UNelections.org.
  • Elections and appointments (2020-2021)