UN Voting

UN bodies may adopt resolutions and decisions:

• With a vote
• Without a vote
• By consensus

Voting may happen in any UN principal organ or body.

In general, voting takes place:

• In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the Rules of Procedure of the body
• During formal meetings
• On draft resolutions, draft decisions, or procedural matters
  • Sometimes votes are held paragraph by paragraph until a final text is agreed upon
• Members of the body may vote
  • Yes, or In favour
  • No, or Against
  • Abstain
  • Non-voting
• Only members of the body can vote
  • The Security Council regularly invites non-members of the Security Council to participate in meetings, without the right to vote

UN reference resources such as the the UN Yearbook, the Repertory of Practice, the Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council and the Index to Proceedings can be useful for understanding and interpreting voting in the UN.

There are different types of vote that may be held.

• Recorded vote
  • How each member voted
  • example: S/PV.7853
• Summary of vote (Non-recorded vote)
  • How many for, against, abstaining and non-voting
  • Individual votes are not reported
  • example: A/PV.320
• Secret ballot
  • Usually for elections
  • example: A/69/PV.39

Voting information is available in several different places, depending on the body, its documentation, and its practices.

• Meeting records
  • If the body issues meeting records, the vote will be recorded in the meeting at which the draft was considered and voted on
  • example: S/PV.7853
• Compilation of resolutions and decisions for the session or year
  • For the principal organs, the compilations now include voting for adopted resolutions (starting in 1999, 54th session of General Assembly; all years for the Security Council)
  • example: A/70/49(Vol.I)
  • Search in UN Digital Library for Resolutions and Decisions of [principal organ]
• Report to a parent organ (sometimes called annual or sessional reports)
  • If the body reports to a parent organ, votes will be recorded in the report
  • example: A/71/53
• Press releases
  • Sometimes a press release may provide preliminary, unofficial voting information
  • example: GA/11866
• Voting databases
  • The Dag Hammarskjold Library maintains Voting Data in the UN Digital Library for resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and Security Council
  • The OHCHR Library maintains Voting Data for resolutions adopted by the Human Rights Council
• UN Akoma Ntoso XML Documents and related metadata : Visualizations and Machine Readability
  • The Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM) converts UN resolutions into XML format, using the Akoma Ntoso for the United Nations (AKN4UN) schema. Additional metadata enhances these XML files with information such as sponsorship of draft resolution, voting data, and additional subject classifications.
  • Date coverage varies by body, starts with 74th session of the General Assembly (2019-2020)

English: About UN Voting

Spanish: Documentación de la ONU: Votación

The United Nations Digital Library also allows you to search for voting information on adopted resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly. To find out how member states voted on particular resolutions, you can search by resolution number (for example, A/RES/64/292) or keyword (for example, non-proliferation). For an example on how to do this, watch the video below.