India's nominee Dalveer Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood are locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the World Court
The permanent members of the UN Security Council are 'unnerved' by the prospect of India's nominee Dalveer Bhandari winning against Britain's candidate in the election to the last seat of the World Court as it would set a precedent that may challenge their power in the future, observers here feel. Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood are locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the Hague-based International Court of Justice, the sources say. The permanent members of the Security Council – the US, Russia, France and China – appeared to have rallied behind Greenwood. Britain is the fifth permanent member of the Security Council. In the 11 rounds of election so far, Bhandari has been receiving support of nearly two-third of the members of the General Assembly, but is trailing by three votes against Greenwood in the Security Council.
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An exterior view of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
The 12th round of elections has been scheduled for Monday. Britain on Friday in an informal consultation of the UN Security Council members mooted the idea of joint conference mechanism as it feels that this could be their only face saving exit strategy, informed sources said. As shared with other members of the Security Council, Britain would prefer to stop voting after the first round as it fears that otherwise India could well cross the two-third mark. In that scenario it would be very difficult for the UN Security Council stop Bhandari from being elected to the ICJ.
11 Total rounds of election that have taken place so far