Germany has suffered a "defeating" in the General Assembly.

Source: Global Network.

On the third day, the General Assembly elected Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe as non-permanent members of the Council. Germany was elected in the first round of voting, and the media claimed that this was the first time that Germany was unable to obtain a non-permanent seat on the Council. According to media outlets such as Al Jazeera Qatar and the BBC, 3 days later, German Foreign Minister Vadefur described the defeat as a “wrongful loss” after the vote and acknowledged that Germany's support for Israel and Ukraine could be one of the reasons for the electoral failure.

Wadfur 3 speech to the media after the election of non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (chart/media)

Al Jazeera reported that, in interviews with journalists, Vadefur stated that Germany had always taken a clear position on certain issues, but not all Member States agreed with those positions and that “the fact that Germany must always assume a special responsibility towards Israel in the Middle East conflict could also lead to the loss of votes”.

It was also reported by the BBC that Waldfur also accused Russia in a summary of the reasons for its failure. The Russian side has not yet responded to the German allegations.

It is understood that non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are elected by the General Assembly by secret ballot and that candidates require at least two thirds of the votes cast in total. The five newly elected non-permanent members will replace Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia for a two-year term beginning on 1 January 2027.

The United Nations Security Council has 15 members. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are permanent members. The 10 non-permanent members are elected to replace five members per year without re-election and are distributed by region: three from the African region; two each from the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe and other regions; and one from the Eastern European region.

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On 3 June, the United Nations General Assembly elected Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe as non-permanent members of the Council. During the competition for two seats in the Group of Western European and Other States, Germany had failed unexpectedly, against Austria, Portugal, and had provoked a conflagration in its own country.

On the basis of the results of the announced vote, Portugal obtained 134 votes, Austria 131 votes and Germany only 104 votes, 23 votes from the two-thirds majority required for election. This is the first time that Germany has failed to win a non-permanent seat on the Council.

Following the announcement of a comprehensive European version of Politician News Network, the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vader Fur, described the loss as a “distressed failure” for several reasons.

Waldfoul attributed part of his defeat to Germany ' s support for Israel, a position which, in his view, had somewhat affected the voting tendencies of United Nations Member States. He added, however, that “Germany must always assume a special responsibility towards Israel in the Middle East conflict”, an outcome that would not prevent “we from continuing to fulfil our historic responsibility towards Israel”.

The German Foreign Minister also turned his head to Russia, accusing the other party of deliberately inciting anti-German sentiment and preventing the German side from entering the most influential United Nations body because of Germany's “severe support” for Ukraine. He declared that “it is no secret that Russia does not want such a voice in the Council and that it has been inciting feelings against us”.

On 3 June, local time, the German Foreign Minister, Waldfur, admitted to losing the election and turned his head to Russia, accusing the other party of deliberately inciting anti-German sentiment because of Germany's “severe support” for Ukraine (chart/videoshot)

Germany, a major donor to the United Nations, has been on the Council six times and has been granted a seat in the Group of Western European and Other States almost every eight years, the last time it was a non-permanent member of the Council from 2019 to 2020.

According to German media reports, during this campaign for seats from 2027 to 2028, Germany launched a major lobbying campaign. Waldfoul personally addressed some 80 global ministers and ambassadors, stressing that Germany had a “good programme” and was prepared to assume its responsibilities in peacekeeping and international security matters. He also advocated the reform of the United Nations Security Council to enhance the role of the countries of the global South.

Ultimately, however, most United Nations representatives chose to support Portugal and Austria. And just earlier this week, Waldefort called these two countries “smaller” European countries.

Indeed, the victory of Portugal and Austria was no surprise. According to a European analysis of Politician News Network, Portugal has in recent years strengthened its diplomatic position by acting as a “neutral coordinator” between Europe and former colonies in Africa, Asia and South America. Austria, for its part, emphasized its constitutional neutrality and used its non-NATO membership as a diplomatic advantage to enlist support from African, Asian and Latin American countries.

Before the vote, the alarm was also sounded in Germany. Valwick, Professor of International Relations at Martin Luther Hallvetenberg University, Germany, stated at that time that the success of the German campaign was not an implacable one, “Germany has been seen for decades as a driving force for multilateralism in solving global problems. But today, the forces that support Germany are disintegrating, and the problems of Israel, the Iran-Iraq war and Ukraine are having an impact.

The report notes that this failure was not only a major diplomatic setback for Germany, but could also exacerbate domestic criticism of the Mertz Government. German Chancellor Metz, who was committed to restoring Germany ' s leadership in European and international affairs, is now unable to secure a seat at the core of the United Nations, which would further weaken his domestic political prestige.

German Chancellor Metz.

Germany’s choice leader Weedel called Germany’s defeat a “shamble” and criticized Mertz’s call for “return to the international arena” at the beginning of his presidency, but now he has no seat on the Council.

The foreign policy spokesman for the Selective Party of the Federal Parliament group, Frenmeier, in a statement, was even more straightforward, stating that it was “an ideologically narrow and unrealistic foreign policy for many years, resulting in the isolation of Germany at the international level”.

The Green Party in Germany, for its part, stated that this “unusual failure” should be attributed to Mertz and to Wade Fur, who participated in the voting in New York. Agneshka Brugg, Vice-President of the Green Party Parliamentary Group, said, “In the past year, the German Government has done far from enough to support this campaign with modern ideas”.

Even the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the ruling coalition did not speak well for Metz. Its foreign affairs spokesman, Adis Ahmetovic, warned that the vote was “a barometer of how (Germany) was seen at the international level”, not by accident but a clear warning signal.

After the vote, Metz responded that “we applied with confidence but failed to achieve our goals”, but that “this result will not change the task before us at the United Nations, and Germany remains a reliable pillar of the multilateral system”.