1946 International Court of Justice judges election

The 1946 International Court of Justice election took place on 6 February 1946 in Westminster Central Hall, London. This was the first ever election of Judges of the Court, one the six "principal organs" of the newly created United Nations. All 15 seats were to be filled.

Article 2 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides that judges shall be elected "from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law".

All States parties to the Statute of the ICJ had the right to propose candidates. Nominations of candidates for election to the ICJ are made by a group consisting of the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), designated by that State. For this purpose, members of the PCA act in "national groups" (i.e. all the PCA members from any individual state). (In the case of UN member states not represented in the PCA, the state in question may select up to four individuals to be its "national group" for the purpose of nominating candidates to the ICJ). Every such "national group" may nominate up to four candidates, not more than two of whom shall be of their own nationality. Before making these nominations, each "national group" is recommended to consult its highest court of justice, its legal faculties and schools of law, and its national academies and national sections of international academies devoted to the study of law.

The following candidates were nominated for the election: ^[1]

As the 1946 election was the first of its kind, some aspects of the rules of procedure were yet to be finalized.

According to the Statute, ICJ judges are elected through parallel procedures at the General Assembly and the Security Council. To be elected, a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council.

At the time, 26 votes constituted an absolute majority in the General Assembly and 6 votes constituted an absolute majority in the Security Council (with no distinction being made between permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council).

Thirteen candidates received an absolute majority of votes in both bodies and were thus elected to the Court. Two seats were to be filled through further rounds of voting.

(Candidates who did not obtain a single vote in any of the two bodies are not listed)

At the second vote, Mr Winiarski obtained an absolute majority of votes in the Security Council, and no candidate could obtain an absolute majority of votes in the General Assembly.

After the second vote, debates followed both in the Council and the Assembly, seeking to clarify the procedure to be followed. The Statute provided that if vacancies remain after the first meeting, the two organs proceed, again independently of one another, at a second meeting and, if necessary, a third meeting to elect candidates by further ballots for seats remaining vacant, the results again being compared after the required number of candidates have obtained an absolute majority in each organ. If after the third meeting, one or more seats still remain unfilled, the General Assembly and the Security Council may form a joint conference consisting of six members, three appointed by each organ. This joint conference may, by an absolute majority, agree upon one name for each seat still vacant and submit the name for the respective acceptance of the General Assembly and the Security Council.

The discussion therefore arose as to whether each round of voting should count as one meeting, or whether several rounds of voting may be held at one meeting - in other words, whether the next round of voting at each body would constitute the third meeting following which a joint conference could be formed.

The General Assembly proceeded on the understanding that each round of voting is a separate meeting. At its third vote, Mr Klaestad received an absolute majority of votes.

The Security Council proceeded on the opposite understanding and took a third vote without the candidature of Mr Winiarski, who had obtained an absolute majority at the second vote. Mr Klaestad received an absolute majority of votes and was declared elected.

The Assembly then discussed whether a joint conference was to be formed, but decided to go on with the fourth round of voting. Mr Winiarski obtained an absolute majority of votes. The Security Council then proceeded on its fourth round of voting and confirmed an absolute majority of votes in favour of Mr Winiarski who was thus also elected.

In future elections, this procedure would be streamlined in order to avoid this sort of confusion.

Following the election, lots were drawn in order to determine which judges were to sit a nine-year term, a six-year term and a three-year term, so as to allow a re-election of one third of the judges every three years.^[8] The final composition of the Court, with indication of the length of judges' terms, was as follows:

The election in order to fill vacancies that would open in 1949 were held in 1948, launching the now standard three-year cycle of ICJ elections.