The brief news item transmitted below proves again that, in contested votes for UN Security Council seats, fervent support for policies repugnant to many or most member states can have consequences. Such elections permit member states to vote in accordance with their true sentiments -- in effect, voting against the candidate that they dislike the most.
Contested votes are relatively rare, since, in most cases, regional groups pre-agree among their members on a candidate or candidates to fill the seat or seats available to their group.
Its past fervent support for Israel has produced repeated defeats for Canada, an otherwise unobjectionable country, in contested elections for a Security Council seat.
Canada, like Germany, is a member of the 28-member WEOG (Western Europe and Others Group), comprising 24 Western European states and four widely dispersed European colonial offshoots -- Australia, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.
When the United States was still interested in being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, on which there are no permanent members, it had to bully and threaten other states into withdrawing their candidacies in order to be "elected".
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmp3pg71edo
Germany blames Russia for 'bitter defeat' in UN Security Council bid
June 3, 2026
Germany's foreign minister says support for Ukraine and Israel may have cost votes after Berlin failed to secure a rotating spot on the UN Security Council.
Johann Wadephul described losing out to Portugal and Austria as a "bitter defeat" after a vote on which countries would become one of the five new members of the council was held on Wednesday evening.
"There is our firm support for Ukraine, the fact that Russia does not want such a voice at the Security Council," Wadephul said, adding it was "no secret" Russia had stirred up sentiment against Germany.
There are five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US – and 10 temporary ones.
"We have always taken a clear stance on certain issues, and these are positions that not all member states share," Wadephul said.
"The fact that Germany must always assume a special responsibility for Israel in the Middle East conflict may also have cost votes," he said.
Wadephul also in part blamed his country's late entry into the race for the two-year term on the Security Council.
Russia has not responded to accusations it lobbied against Germany's membership.
Germany secured 104 votes in its push for one of the two places on the council for the Western European and Others Group, with Portugal getting 134 votes in its favour and Austria 131.
Kyrgyzstan, Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe were also elected to the Security Council, which is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorising use of force.
Missing out on the spot is a blow for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
He has been beleaguered at home and now embarrassed abroad, his critics in opposition parties say, given he has advertised himself as a man who would boost Germany's standing on the international stage.
Merz said Germany would continue to be a firm supporter of the international system and congratulated Austria and Portugal.
"This result does not alter the tasks we face at the United Nations. Germany remains a reliable pillar of the multilateral system," he said.