For
ICC,
DR Gets In,
Regional
Solution
Stalled on
Mauritius
& Cathala
of France
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 15 --
As the
elections for
International
Criminal
Court judges
moved past
7:30 pm on
Thursday,
after Costa
Rica's former
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Jorge Antonio
Urbina Ortega
dropped out
there remained
five
candidates for
three seats.
The
top three vote
getters, two
rounds after
Urbina's
withdrawal,
were Olga
Venecia
Herrera
Carbuccia from
the Dominican
Republic with
77 -- four
more than the
73 votes
needed --
Howard
Morrison of
the UK with
66, and Chile
Eboe-Osuji of
Nigeria,
with 63.
Each
had increased
vote counts
from the tenth
to eleventh
to 12th round.
Numerous
representatives
of state
parties said
this was a
perfectly UN
solution: of
the three
seats, one to
Latin America
(done), then
one
to Europe and
one to Africa.
But
the "other"
European,
Bruno Cathala
of France
whose country
as exposed by
Inner City
Press offered
to trade its
vote for an
unqualified
candidate in
order for one
more vote for
Cathala,
refused to
drop out, as
did the
candidate from
Mauritius.
The floor was
open for
withdrawals,
but in the
French seat
Ms.
Frappeur,
formerly at
the ICC, did
not stir.
Rather, she
was seen
whispering
feverishly to
the
representative
in the seat of
Benin.
(c) UN Photo
Cathala at UN,
vote trading
with
unqualified
candidate not
shown
Earlier
on Thursday
Inner City
Press asked
outgoing ICC
prosecutor
Luis Moreno
Ocampo if
this vote
trading was
any way to
choose ICC
judges. He
said that as
prosecutor he
would not
comment. The
former and now
current
presidents of
the Assembly
of State
Parties both
condemned the
practice. But
a practitioner
remains in the
race, as it
get uglier
with each
round. It will
continue.
Watch this
site.
, 
