Venezuela Makes Surge For U.N. Seat

Venezuela pulled even with Guatemala in the sixth round of voting for a U.N. Security Council seat Monday, a result that could either boost Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's campaign for a spot on the powerful body, or show that member states are deadlocked and clear the field for a new candidate.

After trailing Guatemala in the first five rounds of voting in the 192-nation General Assembly, Venezuela finally garnered 93 votes, the same as its rival. Mexico received one vote.

The earlier results were an embarrassment to Chavez, who had waged a highly public campaign on the claim that his nation would use its seat on the council to speak out against the United States. The United States and its allies argued that Venezuela's stance could stymie the council and undermine its credibility.

Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Francisco Arias Cardenas complained the United States has pressured countries worldwide to prevent Venezuela from winning the rotating seat.

"Venezuela will not withdraw — we're fighting until the end," Cardenas said. "We are fighting against the first power of the world, the owners of the universe. We're happy, we're strong and we will continue."

"At a time when the Security Council is in the driver's seat on nuclear issues in North Korea and Iran, on conflict and peace initiatives in the Middle East, and trying to resolve a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the election of even non-veto-wielding alternating seats on the Security Council matters and the voting can become contentious," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

Guatemala, whose candidacy had been backed by the United States, never received more than 116 votes, and got 93 in the sixth ballot. At one point, Venezuela received just 70 votes, but it later rebounded.

Guatemala has the support of Colombia, apparently most of Central America, and much of Europe. Some diplomats had expressed concern that Washington's support might actually hurt its bid by turning the contest into a United States vs. Chavez battle.

Diplomats said Chavez may have hurt his nation's chances with a bombastic speech at the General Assembly debate in September, when he railed against the United States and called President George W. Bush "the devil" — a speech criticized even by U.S. politicians who had reached out to Chavez.

The results appeared to indicate that a new candidate would emerge to take one of the two council seats reserved for Latin American and Caribbean states. Argentina leaves at the end of the year, and Peru holds the other until Dec. 31, 2007.

The six rounds so far were nowhere near the record — 155 rounds of voting in 1979. After 154 rounds could not determine a winner between Colombia and Cuba, Mexico was finally chosen to take a seat on the council.

Venezuela has served four times on the Security Council.

Guatemala, emerging from years of brutal U.S.-backed dictatorship, has never had a seat but is a leading contributor of troops to U.N. peacekeeping missions.

In recent months, Chavez has collected pledges of support as he visited about a dozen countries from eastern Europe to Africa. Venezuela's opposition leaders have accused Chavez of squandering millions of dollars on his Security Council campaign while neglecting domestic problems such as rampant crime and acute poverty.

The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are filled by the regional groups for two-year stretches. The other five are occupied by the veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The 192-nation General Assembly elected South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium to the four other open seats in the council. They will start their terms on the council on Jan. 1, replacing Tanzania, Japan, Denmark and Greece.