In June 2015, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (ASP) will elect one new International Criminal Court (ICC) judge. The election is scheduled for the resumed thirteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties, to be held at the "van Kleffens" meeting room in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, The Netherlands, from 24-25 June 2015. The nomination period for candidates, exclusively from the Asia Pacific Region, ran from 18 February to 31 March 2015. 
Three candidates were nominated:

• Dr. Ibrahim Aljazy ​(Jordan),
• Dr. Raul Cano Pangalangan (Philipines) and
• Mr. A.B.M. Khairul Haque (Bangladesh). On 13 April 2015 Mr. Haque withdrew his candidacy.

The responses provided by the candidates to the CICC judicial elections questionnaire are below. The notes verbales, statements and curricula vitæ of the candidates are available on the ASP website.

The election will be held to fill a judicial vacancy left by Filipino Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago who resigned her position as an ICC judge in June 2014. While her term officially started on in March 2012, Senator Defensor Santiago was never sworn in. The newly elected judge will serve out the rest of Senator Defensor Santiago’s term in office, which will be a little less than six years.

Candidates were to be nominated solely from the Asia-Pacific Region in order to ensure equitable geographical representation in the ICC’s plenary of 18 Judges. States Parties from this region for the purpose of the ASP are: Fiji; Tajikistan; Marshall Islands; Nauru; Cyprus; Cambodia; Jordan; Mongolia; Timor-Leste; Samoa; Republic of Korea; Afghanistan; Japan; Cook Islands; Bangladesh; Philippines; Maldives; Vanuatu; and Palestine.

Coalition calls for nomination and election of most highly-qualified candidates

The Coalition strongly opposes reciprocal political agreements (“vote-trading�) in ICC elections.

As part of its Campaign on ICC/ASP Elections, the Coalition is urging states parties to nominate the most highly qualified candidates through a fair, transparent and merit-based election process.

In order to enhance the nomination process, we help publicize and raise awareness of the elections and candidates put forward by governments. To this end, for this election we:

• Requested the nominated candidates to complete questionnaires that provide additional information about their qualifications (see below);
• Hosted a public panel discussion with the candidates on 15 April 2015 in The Hague.

The Coalition as a whole does not endorse or oppose individual candidates but advocates for the integrity of the nomination and election procedures.

Election criteria and minimum voting requirements

The ASP will elect those judges who obtain the highest number of votes with at least a two-thirds majority of states parties present and voting from the pool of nominated candidates.

Candidates shall have established competence in criminal law and procedure and necessary relevant experience in criminal proceedings (list A candidates) or established competence in relevant areas of international law and extensive practical experience in a professional legal capacity (list B candidates). Both candidates in this election are ‘list B’ candidates.

States parties must take into account the representation of the principal legal systems of the world, equitable geographical representation, a fair representation of female and male judges, and judges with legal expertise on specific issues including, but not limited to, violence against children or women. The procedure used for nominations and elections of judges requires states parties to vote for a minimum number of candidates from each regional group, legal expertise and gender. For this election, a minimum voting requirement for the Asia-Pacific Region is in place.

For more information

Elections contact: Matthew Cannock, Senior Legal Officer, [email protected]