The International Court of Justice elections 2026 take place on Tuesday, when the UN General Assembly and Security Council are scheduled to conduct simultaneous elections for five seats on the court. Nine candidates are competing for the five positions, according to reports published on November 3.
The election underscores the institutional role of international adjudication, according to the same reports, but it will not decide individual disputes. The outcome will shape the court’s composition for the coming term, influencing how the principal judicial organ of the United Nations approaches cases on state responsibility, territorial disputes and treaty interpretation in the years ahead.
How the election works
ICJ judges are elected by both the General Assembly and the Security Council voting simultaneously but independently. A candidate must obtain an absolute majority in both bodies to be elected. If more candidates than seats obtain majorities, or if seats remain unfilled, further ballots are held — a process that can take several rounds and, in past elections, has stretched over days.
The simultaneous-vote rule is designed to balance the interests of the wider membership, represented in the Assembly, with the Council’s responsibility for peace and security. It also means a candidate popular in one body but not the other cannot be elected without broader support.
Why composition matters now
The court sits at a moment of intense pressure on international law, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, disputes over maritime boundaries, and questions about state responsibility for cyber and hybrid attacks all testing the rules-based order. Latvia, which holds the Security Council presidency in November, has made defending international law and the UN Charter a stated priority for its month, according to its Foreign Ministry.
The ICJ election is therefore watched not for a single verdict, but for the signal it sends about which legal traditions and regional perspectives will shape the court’s bench. The five judges elected on Tuesday will join colleagues whose terms continue, forming a bench that must command legitimacy across regions and legal systems to remain effective.
