The General Assembly and Security Council of the United Nations has re-elected Judge Dalveer Bhandari (India) as a Member of the International Court of Justice for a nine-year term of office, beginning on 6 February 2018.

At the elections for five members which were held on 9 November 2017, the election of a fifth member could not be concluded as neither of the two remaining candidates - Judge Bhandari and Judge Sir Christopher Greenwood (United Kingdom) - obtained an absolute majority in both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

The election was postponed until 20 November, but Judge Greenwood withdrew and left only Judge Bhandari in contention.

On 9 November Judges Ronny Abraham (France), Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusef (Somalia) and Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Brazil) were re-elected as Members of the Court. Mr Nawaf Salam (Lebanon) was elected as a new Member of the Court.

In February 2018, the Court as newly constituted will proceed to elect from among its Members a President and a Vice-President, who will hold office for three years.

The International Court of Justice is composed of 15 judges who serve nine-year terms. It is the first time in the Court's 71-year history that the bench does not include a judge from the United Kingdom, according to the Law Society of England and Wales.