Maldives has won the presidential election of the General Assembly in the United Nations.

During the election held on Monday to determine the successor of current UN General Assembly’s president, Volkan Bozkir, Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid led the votes with 143 out of 191 votes cast.

The polls took place at the UN Headquarters stationed in New York and FM Shahid emerged successful against Afghanistan’s Zalmai Rassoul.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih nominated the Maldives minister as the country’s candidate for the elections’ Asia-Pacific Group’s turn session to commence on 14 September.

FM Shahid has the privilege of being the first ever candidate Maldives has presented for the UNGA presidency and he will be the sixth president from a Small Island Developing State to preside over the UNGA in UN’s history.

Maldives joined the UN on 21 September 1965 not long after gaining independence and has been an active member.

Serving as the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN, the United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the UN.

The UNGA’s President (PGA) has the responsibility of chairing the UNGA session for their elected term and is also the presiding officer for this duration.

In addition, the PGA represents the membership at conferences and other international as well as regional meetings and can co-host events with Member States and other partners.