(VOVworld) –The UN General Assembly elected on Tuesday five new non-permanent members of the Security Council. Kazakhstan, Sweden, Ethiopia, and Bolivia were chosen to serve for a period of two years.

Bolivian ambassador to the UN Sacha Llorente cheered as Bolivia was chosen to be one of the new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

The General Assembly had to carry out five rounds of voting for the fifth seat, as the Netherlands and Italy were neck and neck at 95 votes each, far short of the 127 votes needed to win.

After two caucuses, the Assembly agreed to elect Italy for the term of 2017 and the Netherlands for the term of 2018. It is not the first time two countries share a spot in the history of the UN. In 1960, Turkey and Poland shared a non-permanent seat in the Security Council.