On October 14, 1997, the General Assembly elected Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia and Slovenia to the Security Council. These five states will takeover the seats vacated by Chile, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Poland, and the Republic of Korea on January 1, 1998, and will serve until December 31, 1999.

Each year the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for two year terms on the Security Council. The Council is composed of five permanent and ten non-permanent members. The recently elected states will join Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya, Portugal, and Sweden (whose terms expire on December 31, 1998) and China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States (the five permanent members who posses veto power). Canada is competing for a seat on the Council for the 1999-2000 term.