Albania Elected to the UN Security Council for the First Time

The U.N. General Assembly elected Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Security Council on Friday for a two-year term starting on Jan. 1, 2022.
All five countries ran unopposed for a spot on the 15-member body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. They will replace Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.
To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. But even if candidates are running unopposed in their group, they still need to win the support of more than two-thirds of the U.N. General Assembly.
Ghana received 185 votes, Gabon 183 votes, UAE 179 votes, Albania 175 votes and Brazil 181 votes.
The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions like imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force. It has five permanent veto-wielding members – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia.
Albania joined the United Nations on 14 December 1955, and has participated in several UN peacekeeping operations. Albania is part of the Group of Eastern European States (EEG) which is one of the five United Nations regional groups and is composed of 23 Member States from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. Before 1990s it did not belong to any groups. Albania joined EEG in 1991 when the country was engulfed by the pluralist democratic changes which were taking place in all Eastern European countries. /argumentum.al