7th November 1999

Why Lanka 'also-ran' in global polls

But election time at the UN is no better – simply because diplomatic double talk is a way of life in an institution where hopes are shattered by false promises.

When diplomats say maybe, they probably mean no, when they say yes, they mean maybe – and when they eventually say no, the message is transmitted by secret ballot.

If you don't read the right signals way ahead of the polls, and if your numbers don't add up, the best strategy is an exit strategy.

Perhaps Sri Lanka failed to size up its limitations when it lost three consecutive elections during the last three weeks – despite promises and pledges made by scores of member states.

Some of them made pledges to Sri Lankan delegations visiting various capitals in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

A former Sri Lankan Permanent Representative once confessed that irrespective of the instructions he received from the foreign ministry, he would occasionally strike out on his own and cast his vote based purely on his own judgement.

"How I vote at a UN election," he said, "depends to a large extent on the friendships with other ambassadors."

Since all key elections for UN bodies are decided by secret ballot, no one really knows who voted for whom.

At the recently-concluded elections at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris, Sri Lanka was promised enough votes to convince the government to stay in the race.

But when the closed-door voting began, the story was totally different. Sri Lanka received only a paltry four votes in the first round and two in the second, forcing it to pull out of the race. The voting strength of the UNESCO Executive Board was 58.

Sri Lanka had a similar experience at the ECOSOC elections in New York last week where it was eliminated in the very first round with only 54 out of 174 votes. The required majority to win the election was 116 votes, with six countries vying for the three Asian seats.

Sri Lanka was at the bottom of the table with 54 votes behind Japan (which won in the first round with 122 votes), Bahrain (106), Fiji (72), Thailand (69) and Kazakhstan (63).

"If we had a deposit, we would have lost it," joked one Sri Lankan UN official working in the Secretariat.

The ECOSOC, which consists of 54 member states, is the UN body dealing with social and economic issues, and is also a stepping stone to the UN Human Rights Commission, whose membership is considered crucial to Sri Lanka.

Perhaps the most devastating loss was Justice Chris Weera-mantry's defeat at the elections for a second nine-year term in the ICJ.

After qualifying in the first round of voting with 98 out of 176 votes in the General Assembly, Justice Weeramantry received only 76 in the second round. The required number of votes was 95.

Although Justice Weeramantry received 98 votes in the first round, the other five candidates from Britain (157 votes), Venezuela (156), Madagascar (155), France (152), and Jordan (132) received more than the requisite majority forcing the Assembly to a second round of voting. This was because there were six candidates for five positions.

Justice Weeramantry, who is the current vice-president of the ICJ, was tipped to be president when the incumbent, Stephen Schweibel of the US, retires next year.

If you are not a military or an economic power, says one Third World diplomat, you will always have a hard time winning an election irrespective of your candidate's strong credentials.

Most UN elections are characterised by horse-trading: one vote being traded off in one election in return for another vote in another election.

But at voting time, most developing nations have discovered that one of the few assets they possess is goodwill.

"It is something that has to be built over the years – not just on the eve of an election," admits another senior envoy who has zealously worked the corridors and the coffee shops before clinching a seat for his country in the Security Council.

Although Justice Weeramantry had the best chance of winning, Sri Lanka spread itself too thin running for three key posts simultaneously. At the end, it lost all three.