Maldives Foreign Minister Elected As UN General Assembly President

Shahid will succeed Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir who had presided over the 75th session of the General Assembly.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid elected as UN General Assembly President.

(Photo: Twitter/ India at UN, NY)

Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid was elected as the 76th President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 7 June, Monday.

According to a PTI report, 143 of the 191 votes cast by the Assembly members were in Shahid's favour.

The remaining 48 votes were garnered by Dr Zalmai Rassoul, the former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.

The UN General Assembly comprises a total of 193 members. Its President is elected every year using a secret ballot system. The candidate with the majority of votes wins the election.

India's Response

"Heartiest felicitations to Foreign Minister of Maldives Abdulla Shahid on his election as President for 76th UN General Assembly," Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar tweeted, assuring his keenness to work with the new President on reforms to strengthen multilateralism.

"Hearty congratulations to Maldives Foreign Minister @abdulla_shahid for the robust victory and for being elected as the 76th President of the @UN General Assembly," India at UN New York, the official account of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at New York, tweeted.

Ambassador of India to United Nations, New York, TS Tirumurti also congratulated the new UNGA President over Twitter.

Shahid will succeed Turkish politician Volkan Bozkir who had presided over the 75th session of the General Assembly.

(With inputs from PTI.)