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CAIRO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has been elected on Thursday as a two-year non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as one of the two seats specified to Africa, the Egyptian state TV reported.
Senegal from Africa, Japan from Asia, Ukraine from Eastern Europe and Uruguay from South America also won non-permanent seats in the UN powerful body, according to the secret vote held at the council's headquarters in New York Thursday.
The vote was uncontested as the five countries ran without competitors after they have been agreed by their regional groups as their nominees.
It's the fifth time for Egypt to be elected as a Security Council non-permanent member, the last of which was around 20 years ago, particularly in 1996.
The UN Security Council consists of 15 members, five of which are permanent and most influential, namely the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China.
The other 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year non-renewable terms. They do not have the power to veto that can block any council's action, which is exclusively held by the five big powers.
Egypt's return to the Security Council membership is expected by experts to enhance the country's status regionally and internationally.
