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 of the six "principal organs" of the newly created United Nations. All 15 seats were to be filled.

Candidates

The following candidates were nominated for the election:

Candidates Nominating national groups Hildebrando Accioly (Brazil) Brazil Eduardo Blanco Acevedo (Uruguay) Uruguay Mostafa Adl (Iran) Iran (Iraq) Iraq Fares al-Khoury (Syria) Syria, Iraq Tawfiq al-Suwaidi (Iraq) Iraq Rafael Altamira (Spain) France Alejandro Álvarez (Chile) Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay (Costa Rica) Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru Philadelpho Azevedo (Brazil) Brazil, Canada, Chile, Haiti, Lebanon, Paraguay Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha (Egypt) Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria Kenneth Hamilton Bailey (Australia) Australia Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (Ecuador) Ecuador Jules Basdevant (France) Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Luxembourg, United States Octavio Béeche Argüello (Costa Rica) Costa Rica Cemil Bilsel (Turkey) Turkey James Leslie Brierly (United Kingdom) Ethiopia Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven (Cuba) Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama (Honduras) Honduras (Lebanon) Lebanon Victor Cauvin (Haiti) Haiti Cheng Tien-Hsi (China) Netherlands Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal (Chile) El Salvador Ahmad Matin-Daftari (Iran) Iran, Lebanon Reginald Percy Basil Davis (South Africa) South Africa Francisco Delgado (Philippines) Philippines Eduardo Díez de Medina (Bolivia) El Salvador Isidro Fabela Alfaro (Mexico) Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay (Czechoslovakia) Czechoslovakia, Ukrainian SSR Jose Falla Aris (Guatemala) Guatemala (withdrawn) Charles Fenwick (United States) Venezuela Manuel Gallego (Philippines) Philippines (withdrawn) (Peru) Peru José Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) Australia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua Green Hackworth (United States) Nicaragua, Turkey, United States Francois Petrus van den Heever (South Africa) South Africa (withdrawn) Hsu Mo (China) China, Philippines Manley Hudson (United States) Argentina, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Panama, Philippines Cecil Hurst (United Kingdom) France, Greece Salih Jabr (Iraq) Iraq (withdrawn) Mariano Honrade de Joya (Philippines) Philippines Helge Klæstad (Norway) Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway (Yugoslavia) Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia (Ukrainian SSR) Ukrainian SSR (Czechoslovakia) Czechoslovakia Sergei Borisovich Krylov (USSR) Poland, USSR (Poland) Poland, Ukrainian SSR, USSR Abel Leger (Haiti) Haiti (Dominican Republic) Dominican Republic (Honduras) Honduras (Colombia) Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) Argentina, Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Turkey, United Kingdom (Greece) Greece Martín C. Martínez (Uruguay) Uruguay Michael Myers (New Zealand) New Zealand (Venezuela) Venezuela, United States (USSR) USSR (Venezuela) Venezuela Massimo Pilotti (Italy) France (Argentina) Argentina (Byelorussian SSR) Byelorussian SSR Miguel Prado Solares (Guatemala) Guatemala (withdrawn) John Erskine Read (Canada) Canada Julio Salmón (Bolivia) Bolivia (Turkey) Turkey Jean Spiropoulos (Greece) Greece, United States José Luis Tamayo (Ecuador) Ecuador Cosme de la Torriente (Cuba) Cuba Manuel de Jesus Troncoso de la Concha (Dominican Republic) Dominican Republic (Bolivia) Bolivia Francisco José Urrutia (Colombia) Colombia Celso Ramon Velázquez (Paraguay) Paraguay (Netherlands) Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands (Peru) Peru Charles de Visscher (Belgium) Argentina, Belgium, Ethiopia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom Bohdan Winiarski (Poland) Poland Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (India) India, United Kingdom Maximo Zepeda (Nicaragua) Nicaragua Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) Ukrainian SSR, United Kingdom, USSR, Yugoslavia Youssef Zulficar Pasha (Egypt) Egypt, Iraq (withdrawn), Saudi Arabia, Syria

Election procedure

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).

Results

Vote 1

Candidates General Assembly majority = 26 Security Council majority = 6 Hildebrando Accioly withdrawn Eduardo Blanco Acevedo 6 1 Mostafa Adl 13 1 2 0 Fares al-Khoury 2 0 Rafael Altamira 9 1 Alejandro Álvarez 31 7 9 1 Philadelpho Azevedo 31 9 Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha 30 10 Kenneth Hamilton Bailey 18 6 Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno 0 0 Jules Basdevant 39 10 Octavio Béeche Argüello 1 0 Cemil Bilsel 6 0 James Leslie Brierly 0 0 Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven 6 0 9 0 0 0 Victor Cauvin 2 0 Cheng Tien-Hsi withdrawn Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal 0 0 Ahmad Matin-Daftari 0 0 Reginald Percy Basil Davis 8 1 Francisco Delgado 13 0 Eduardo Díez de Medina 0 0 Isidro Fabela Alfaro 33 8 1 0 Jose Falla Aris withdrawn Charles Fenwick 0 0 Manuel Gallego withdrawn 0 0 José Gustavo Guerrero 34 6 Green Hackworth 32 8 Francois Petrus van den Heever 1 0 Hsu Mo 41 11 Manley Hudson 10 1 Cecil Hurst 2 0 Salih Jabr withdrawn Mariano Honrade de Joya 2 1 Helge Klæstad 21 6 4 0 0 0 3 0 Sergei Borisovich Krylov 34 11 2 0 Abel Leger 5 0 0 0 0 0 15 2 Arnold McNair 34 10 1 0 Martín C. Martínez 1 0 Michael Myers 4 1 14 1 1 0 1 2 Massimo Pilotti 0 1 30 5 1 0 Miguel Prado Solares withdrawn John Erskine Read 27 8 Julio Salmón 0 0 1 0 Jean Spiropoulos 18 4 José Luis Tamayo 0 0 Cosme de la Torriente 2 0 Manuel de Jesus Troncoso de la Concha 0 0 1 0 Francisco José Urrutia 0 0 Celso Ramon Velázquez 1 0 8 5 0 0 Charles de Visscher 40 9 Bohdan Winiarski 19 5 Muhammad Zafarullah Khan 27 4 Maximo Zepeda 6 0 Milovan Zoričić 26 8 Youssef Zulficar Pasha 0 0

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.

Further votes

(Candidates who did not receive a vote in any of the further ballots are not listed.)

Candidates General Assembly majority = 26 Security Council majority = 6 Vote 2 Vote 3 Vote 4 Vote 2 Vote 3 Vote 4 Mostafa Adl 0 1 1 1 0 0 Kenneth Hamilton Bailey 15 15 12 3 1 1 Cemil Bilsel 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 Ahmad Matin-Daftari 0 0  1 0 0 0 Francisco Delgado 2 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helge Klæstad 16 30 - 5 8 - 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Jean Spiropoulos 10 3 0 1 0 0 11 8 0 3 1 2 Bohdan Winiarski 18 24 26 7 - 8 Muhammad Zafarullah Khan 15 11 7 2 1 0

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 Klæstad 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 Klæstad 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.

Composition of the Court

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. The final composition of the Court, with indication of the length of judges' terms, was as follows:

Judge Term starts / renewed Term ends Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha 1946 1949 Hsu Mo 1946 1949 John Read 1946 1949 Bohdan Winiarski 1946 1949 Milovan Zoričić 1946 1949 Isidro Fabela Alfaro 1946 1952 Green Hackworth 1946 1952 Helge Klæstad 1946 1952 Sergei Krylov 1946 1952 Charles de Visscher 1946 1952 Alejandro Álvarez 1946 1955 Philadelpho Azevedo 1946 1955 Jules Basdevant 1946 1955 José Gustavo Guerrero 1946 1955 Arnold McNair 1946 1955

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

References