UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Congo, Qatar, Slovakia, Ghana and Peru were elected as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council by the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, president of the UN General Assembly, announced Monday.

    The five states have been elected to two-year terms on the UN Security Council starting from Jan. 1, 2006 to replace Algeria, Benin, the Philippines, Romania and Brazil, Eliasson said at the plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

    Congo, Ghana, Qatar and Slovakia were the only candidates presented by their respective regional groups, while Peru and Nicaragua were in contention for the Latin American-Caribbean seat.However, Peru defeated its rival by 144 to 43 in the race.

    The new members will join Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania, who were elected last year and will remain on the council until the end of 2006.

    The UN Security Council has 15 member states, which includes five permanent members of China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States, and 10 non-permanent states with five of them rotating each year.

    New members are elected by secret ballot in the 191-nation UN General Assembly, which has to approve candidates by a two-thirds majority among those voting.

    The 10 nonpermanent seats, often determined well in advance, are distributed on a regional basis with three for Africa, two for Asia, one for Eastern Europe, two for Latin America and the Caribbean, and two for a group composed of Western European nations and others. Enditem