President of the United Nations General Assembly

The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 (UNGA) on a yearly basis.

Election

The session of the assembly is scheduled for every year starting in September - any special, or emergency special, assemblies over the next year will be headed by the president of UNGA.

The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asian, Eastern European

Eastern European Group

The Eastern European Group is one of the five unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups...

, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States

Western European and Others Group

The Western European and Others Group is one of several unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups...

.

Because of their powerful stature globally, some of the largest, most powerful countries have never held the presidency, such as the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In particular, it is customary that a national of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...

 never serves as General Assembly president.

The only country that had a national elected as President of the United Nations General Assembly twice is Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

; all the other member states had been represented only once by their nationals holding this office.

Reform

Clear and appropriate criteria have been proposed prior to the consideration of candidacies and to establish of an "elections committee" or, alternatively, a search committee. Criteria include:

• Availability to devote full-time attention for many months;
• Political independence;
• Multilateral leadership
  Multilateralism
  Multilateralism is a term in international relations that refers to multiple countries working in concert on a given issue.International organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization are multilateral in nature...
  
   experience, including negotiation and consensus-building
  Consensus decision-making
  Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...
  
   skills and the ability to deal with multiple powerful stakeholders; and
• A thorough understanding of the United Nations Charter
  United Nations Charter
  The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...
  
  .

Other propositions includes presidential voting by citizens of all over the world to elect the UNGA president.

List of presidents

Session Number	Year	Name of President	UN member state	Region
First	1946	Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Spaak Paul Henri Charles Spaak was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.-Early life:Paul-Henri Spaak was born on 25 January 1899 in Schaerbeek, Belgium, to a distinguished Belgian family. His grandfather, Paul Janson was an important member of the Liberal Party...		WES
First special	1947	Oswaldo Aranha Oswaldo Aranha Osvaldo Euclides de Sousa Aranha was a Brazilian politician, diplomat and statesman, who came to national prominence in 1930 under Getúlio Vargas....	Brazil	LAS
Second	1947	Oswaldo Aranha Oswaldo Aranha Osvaldo Euclides de Sousa Aranha was a Brazilian politician, diplomat and statesman, who came to national prominence in 1930 under Getúlio Vargas....	Brazil	LAS
Second special	1948	José Arce José Arce José Arce was an Argentine physician, politician and diplomat. He held the position of the President of the United Nations General Assembly during the Second special session - between 16 April 1948 and 21 September 1948....		LAS
Third	1948	Herbert Vere Evatt H. V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...		COS
Fourth	1949	Carlos P. Romulo Carlos P. Rómulo Carlos Peña Rómulo was a Filipino diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32...	Philippines	EAS
Fifth	1950	Nasrollah Entezam Nasrollah Entezam Nasrollah Entezam was an Iranian diplomat. He held the position of the President of the United Nations General Assembly during the fifth session, in 1950.Mr...	Iran	EAS
Sixth	1951	Luis Padilla Nervo Luis Padilla Nervo Luis Padilla Nervo , Mexican politician and diplomat. He was the first Mexican Ambassador at the United Nations, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Sixth Session of United Nations General Assembly.- Biography :He studied Law at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, also he had...	Mexico	LAS
Seventh	1952	Lester B. Pearson Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...	Canada	COS
Eighth (First Woman President)	1953	Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, the aunt of Indira Gandhi and the great-aunt of Rajiv Gandhi, all of whom served as Prime Minister of India.In 1921 she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, who died on 14 January 1944...		COS
Ninth	1954	Eelco N. van Kleffens		WES
Tenth	1955	José Maza		LAS
First emergency special First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The first emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was convened on 1 November and ended on 10 November 1956 resolving the Suez Crisis by creating the United Nations Emergency Force to provide an international presence between the belligerents in the canal zone...	1956	Rudecindo Ortega		LAS
Second emergency special	1956	Rudecindo Ortega		LAS
Eleventh	1956	Wan Waithayakon Wan Waithayakon Wan Waithayakon , known in the West as Wan Waithayakon , was a Thai diplomat. He was elected President of the Eleventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly, while serving as Thailand's Permanent Representative to the United Nations...		EAS
Twelfth	1957	Leslie Munro Leslie Munro Sir Leslie Knox Munro, KCMG, KCVO was a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, and politician of international standing.-Law and media:...		COS
Third emergency special	1958	Leslie Munro Leslie Munro Sir Leslie Knox Munro, KCMG, KCVO was a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, and politician of international standing.-Law and media:...		COS
Thirteenth	1958	Charles Habib Malik	Lebanon	MES
Fourteenth	1959	Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Diez Canseco was a Peruvian diplomat who chaired the Fourteenth session and the fourth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly .Victor Andrés Belaúnde was born in Arequipa, Peru...		LAS
Fourth emergency special	1960	Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Diez Canseco was a Peruvian diplomat who chaired the Fourteenth session and the fourth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly .Victor Andrés Belaúnde was born in Arequipa, Peru...		LAS
Fifteenth	1960	Frederick Henry Boland		WES
Third special	1961	Frederick Henry Boland		WES
Sixteenth	1961	Mongi Slim Mongi Slim Mongi Slim was a twice jailed Tunisian diplomat who became the first African to become the President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1961. He received a degree from the faculty of law of the University of Paris....	Tunisia	MES
Seventeenth	1962	Muhammad Zafarullah Khan		COS
Fourth special	1963	Muhammad Zafarullah Khan		COS
Eighteenth	1963	Carlos Sosa Rodriguez	Venezuela	LAS
Nineteenth	1964	Alex Quaison-Sackey Alex Quaison-Sackey Dr. Alex Quaison-Sackey was a Ghanaian diplomat who served during the first and third republics. He was the first black African to serve as president of the United Nations General Assembly. -Early life and education:...	Ghana	COS
Twentieth	1965	Amintore Fanfani Amintore Fanfani Amintore Fanfani was an Italian career politician and the 33rd man to serve the office of Prime Minister of the State. He was one of the well-known Italian politicians after the Second World War, and a historical figure of the Christian Democracy .Fanfani and Giovanni Giolitti are still actually...		WES
Twenty-first	1966	Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak was an Afghan poet and diplomat. He was educated in Afghanistan and started out his career as a journalist, but eventually joined the foreign ministry. During the 1950s he became ambassador to the United Nations, and served as president of the UN General Assembly from 1966 to...	Afghanistan	Asia
Fifth special	1967	Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak was an Afghan poet and diplomat. He was educated in Afghanistan and started out his career as a journalist, but eventually joined the foreign ministry. During the 1950s he became ambassador to the United Nations, and served as president of the UN General Assembly from 1966 to...	Afghanistan	Asia
Fifth emergency special	1967	Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak Abdul Rahman Pazhwak was an Afghan poet and diplomat. He was educated in Afghanistan and started out his career as a journalist, but eventually joined the foreign ministry. During the 1950s he became ambassador to the United Nations, and served as president of the UN General Assembly from 1966 to...	Afghanistan	Asia
Twenty-second	1967	Corneliu Mănescu Corneliu Manescu Corneliu Mănescu was a Romanian diplomat born in Ploieşti. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania from 1961 to 1972 and as President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1967 to 1968....	Romania	EEG
Twenty-third	1968	Emilio Arenales Catalan Emilio Arenales Catalán Emilio Arenales Catalán was the foreign minister of Guatemala from 1966 to 1969 and the president of the United Nations Twenty-Third General Assembly from 1968 to 1969. He was born and died in Guatemala City....		GRULAC
Twenty-fourth	1969	Angie Elisabeth Brooks Angie Elisabeth Brooks Angie Elizabeth Brooks was a Liberian diplomat and jurist. She is notable for being the only African female President of the United Nations General Assembly...		Africa
Twenty-fifth	1970	Edvard Hambro Edvard Hambro Edvard Isak Hambro was a Norwegian politician. He was the 25th President of the United Nations General Assembly and also served on the UN's International Law Commission from 1972 to 1977.- Biography :...		WEOG
Twenty-sixth	1971	Adam Malik Adam Malik Adam Malik Batubara was Indonesia's third vice president, a senior diplomat, and one of the pioneers of Indonesian journalism.-Early life:...		Asia
Twenty-seventh	1972	Stanisław Trepczyński		EEG
Twenty-eighth	1973	Leopoldo Benites Leopoldo Benites Leopoldo Benites was the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. He had been the permanent representative of Ecuador since October 1960.-Early life:...		GRULAC
Sixth special	1974	Leopoldo Benites Leopoldo Benites Leopoldo Benites was the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. He had been the permanent representative of Ecuador since October 1960.-Early life:...		GRULAC
Twenty-ninth	1974	Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...		Africa
Seventh special	1975	Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...		Africa
Thirtieth	1975	Gaston Thorn Gaston Thorn Gaston Egmond Thorn was a Luxembourg politician who served in a number of high-profile positions, both domestically and internationally...		WEOG
Thirty-first	1976	Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, CCS was a Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant. He was the Ceylon's High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to both Nepal and Afghanistan and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury and the Ministry of Health...	Sri Lanka	Asia
Thirty-second	1977	Lazar Mojsov Lazar Mojsov Dr. Lazar Mojsov was a Macedonian journalist, politician and diplomat from SFR Yugoslavia.Mojsov received his doctoral degree from the University of Belgrade's Law School. He fought for the anti-fascist partisans in World War II and continued to rise through the ranks of the Communist Party after...	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	EEG
Eighth special	1978	Lazar Mojsov Lazar Mojsov Dr. Lazar Mojsov was a Macedonian journalist, politician and diplomat from SFR Yugoslavia.Mojsov received his doctoral degree from the University of Belgrade's Law School. He fought for the anti-fascist partisans in World War II and continued to rise through the ranks of the Communist Party after...	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	EEG
Ninth special	1978	Lazar Mojsov Lazar Mojsov Dr. Lazar Mojsov was a Macedonian journalist, politician and diplomat from SFR Yugoslavia.Mojsov received his doctoral degree from the University of Belgrade's Law School. He fought for the anti-fascist partisans in World War II and continued to rise through the ranks of the Communist Party after...	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	EEG
Tenth special	1978	Lazar Mojsov Lazar Mojsov Dr. Lazar Mojsov was a Macedonian journalist, politician and diplomat from SFR Yugoslavia.Mojsov received his doctoral degree from the University of Belgrade's Law School. He fought for the anti-fascist partisans in World War II and continued to rise through the ranks of the Communist Party after...	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	EEG
Thirty-third	1978	Indalecio Liévano Indalecio Liévano Indalecio Liévano Aguirre was a Colombian politician and diplomat, who as the 17th Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations served as the 33rd President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. He also served as Colombia's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister...		GRULAC
Thirty-fourth	1979	Salim A. Salim		Africa
Sixth emergency special Sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held between 10 January – 14 January 1980 to consider the situation in Afghanistan. As the Soviet war in Afghanistan began members of the United Nations General Assembly requested the Security Council consider the...	1980	Salim A. Salim		Africa
Seventh emergency special Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centred around the Palestine issue. It was held by the UN in 1980, convened by Senegal and was the only special session to have been resumed besides the Tenth, which considered the same issue.-External links:*...	1980	Salim A. Salim		Africa
Eleventh special	1980	Salim A. Salim		Africa
Thirty-fifth	1980	Rüdiger von Wechmar Rüdiger von Wechmar Baron Rüdiger von Wechmar was a German diplomat. He was West German ambassador to the UN in the 1970s. During the thirty-fifth ordinary and the eighth emergency special sessions, from 1980 to 1981, he was President of the United Nations General Assembly.Von Wechmar was born in Berlin the son of...	(West Germany)	WEOG
Eighth emergency special	1981	Rüdiger von Wechmar Rüdiger von Wechmar Baron Rüdiger von Wechmar was a German diplomat. He was West German ambassador to the UN in the 1970s. During the thirty-fifth ordinary and the eighth emergency special sessions, from 1980 to 1981, he was President of the United Nations General Assembly.Von Wechmar was born in Berlin the son of...	(West Germany)	WEOG
Thirty-sixth	1981	Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani is a former Iraqi politician, most notable for being President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and 1982.-Early life:...	Iraq	Asia
Seventh emergency special Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centred around the Palestine issue. It was held by the UN in 1980, convened by Senegal and was the only special session to have been resumed besides the Tenth, which considered the same issue.-External links:*...  - Continuation	1982	Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani is a former Iraqi politician, most notable for being President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and 1982.-Early life:...	Iraq	Asia
Ninth emergency special	1982	Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani is a former Iraqi politician, most notable for being President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and 1982.-Early life:...	Iraq	Asia
Twelfth special	1982	Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani Ismat T. Kittani is a former Iraqi politician, most notable for being President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and 1982.-Early life:...	Iraq	Asia
Thirty-seventh	1982	Imre Hollai Imre Hollai Imre Hollai is a retired Hungarian diplomat.Hollai joined the Hungarian foreign service in 1949. He served as Hungary's deputy representative to the United Nations from 1956 to 1960, as the head of foreign relations for the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party from 1960 to 1963, as...		EEG
Thirty-eighth	1983	Jorge E. Illueca		GRULAC
Thirty-ninth	1984	Paul J. F. Lusaka Paul J. F. Lusaka Paul John Firmino Lusaka was a Zambian politician and diplomat who became President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1984.-Biography:...	Zambia	Africa
Fortieth	1985	Jaime de Piniés Jaime de Piniés Jaime de Piniés was a Spanish diplomat who served for one year as the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Before he held that position he served as Spain's Permanent Representative to the United Nations for approximately fourteen non-consecutive years...		WEOG
Thirteenth special	1986	Jaime de Piniés Jaime de Piniés Jaime de Piniés was a Spanish diplomat who served for one year as the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Before he held that position he served as Spain's Permanent Representative to the United Nations for approximately fourteen non-consecutive years...		WEOG
Forty-first	1986	Humayun Rashid Choudhury Humayun Rashid Choudhury Humayun Rasheed Choudhury was a career diplomat and speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament . Humayun Rashid Choudhury was born in Sylhet on 11 November 1928. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. Mr...		Asia
Fourteenth special	1986	Humayun Rashid Choudhury Humayun Rashid Choudhury Humayun Rasheed Choudhury was a career diplomat and speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament . Humayun Rashid Choudhury was born in Sylhet on 11 November 1928. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. Mr...		Asia
Forty-second	1987	Peter Florin Peter Florin Peter Florin, born in Cologne on October 2, 1921, is a former East German politician and diplomat.-Early life:Peter's father, Wilhelm Florin, was a leading figure in the pre-war Communist Party of Germany....	German Democratic Republic (East Germany)	EEG
Fifteenth special	1988	Peter Florin Peter Florin Peter Florin, born in Cologne on October 2, 1921, is a former East German politician and diplomat.-Early life:Peter's father, Wilhelm Florin, was a leading figure in the pre-war Communist Party of Germany....	German Democratic Republic (East Germany)	EEG
Forty-third	1988	Dante Maria Caputo		GRULAC
Forty-fourth	1989	Joseph Nanven Garba Joseph Nanven Garba Major General Joseph Nanven Garba was a Nigerian general, diplomat, and politician who served as president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1989 to 1990.-Early military career:...		Africa
Sixteenth special	1989	Joseph Nanven Garba Joseph Nanven Garba Major General Joseph Nanven Garba was a Nigerian general, diplomat, and politician who served as president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1989 to 1990.-Early military career:...		Africa
Seventeenth special	1990	Joseph Nanven Garba Joseph Nanven Garba Major General Joseph Nanven Garba was a Nigerian general, diplomat, and politician who served as president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1989 to 1990.-Early military career:...		Africa
Eighteenth special	1990	Joseph Nanven Garba Joseph Nanven Garba Major General Joseph Nanven Garba was a Nigerian general, diplomat, and politician who served as president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1989 to 1990.-Early military career:...		Africa
Forty-fifth	1990	Guido de Marco Guido de Marco Guido de Marco was a Maltese politician, who served as the sixth President of Malta from 1999 to 2004. A noted statesman and lawmaker, de Marco also served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Minister for Foreign Affairs.He is widely regarded as one of the great...		WEOG
Forty-sixth	1991	Samir S. Shihabi		Asia
Forty-seventh	1992	Stoyan Ganev		EEG
Forty-eighth	1993	Samuel Insanally Samuel Insanally Samuel Rudolph "Rudy" Insanally is a Guyanese diplomat. He has been Guyana's Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 1987 and was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana from 2001 to 2008....		GRULAC
Forty-ninth	1994	Amara Essy Amara Essy Amara Essy is a diplomat from Côte d'Ivoire .Essy was born in Bouake. He was the Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations from 1981 to 1990, and in January 1990 he was President of the United Nations Security Council...		Africa
Fiftieth	1995	Diogo Freitas do Amaral Diogo Freitas do Amaral Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral, GCC, GCSE, GCIH , usually referred to as either Freitas do Amaral or informally Freitas, is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 12 March 2005 to 1 July 2006...		WEOG
Fifty-first	1996	Razali Ismail Razali Ismail Tan Sri Razali Ismail is a distinguished Malaysian diplomat. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in literature and the humanities from Universiti Malaya and an Honorary Doctorate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia....		Asia
Tenth emergency special Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The session was first convened in 1997 under the president of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia...	1997	Razali Ismail Razali Ismail Tan Sri Razali Ismail is a distinguished Malaysian diplomat. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in literature and the humanities from Universiti Malaya and an Honorary Doctorate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia....		Asia
Nineteenth special	1997	Razali Ismail Razali Ismail Tan Sri Razali Ismail is a distinguished Malaysian diplomat. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in literature and the humanities from Universiti Malaya and an Honorary Doctorate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia....		Asia
Fifty-second	1997	Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has been the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast...		EEG
Tenth emergency special Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The session was first convened in 1997 under the president of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia...  - Continuation	1998	Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has been the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast...		EEG
Twentieth special	1998	Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Udovenko Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has been the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast...		EEG
Fifty-third	1998	Didier Opertti Badan		GRULAC
Tenth emergency special Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The session was first convened in 1997 under the president of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia...  - Continuation	1999	Didier Opertti Badan		GRULAC
Twenty-first special	1999	Didier Opertti Badan		GRULAC
Fifty-fourth	1999	Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab is a Namibian politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005; previously he was Prime Minister of Namibia from August 27, 2002 to March 19, 2005.-Political career:...		Africa
Twenty-second special	1999	Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab is a Namibian politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005; previously he was Prime Minister of Namibia from August 27, 2002 to March 19, 2005.-Political career:...		Africa
Twenty-third special	2000	Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab is a Namibian politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005; previously he was Prime Minister of Namibia from August 27, 2002 to March 19, 2005.-Political career:...		Africa
Twenty-fourth special	2000	Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab Theo-Ben Gurirab is a Namibian politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005; previously he was Prime Minister of Namibia from August 27, 2002 to March 19, 2005.-Political career:...		Africa
Fifty-fifth	2000	Harri Holkeri		WEOG
Tenth emergency special Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The session was first convened in 1997 under the president of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia...  - Continuation	2000	Harri Holkeri		WEOG
Twenty-fifth special	2001	Harri Holkeri		WEOG
Twenty-sixth special	2001	Harri Holkeri		WEOG
Fifty-sixth	2001	Han Seung-soo	South Korea (South Korea)	Asia
Fifty-seventh	2002	Jan Kavan Jan Kavan Jan Kavan is a Czech diplomat and politician.-Biography:Kavan was born in London, the son of a Czech diplomat, Pavel Kavan, and a British teacher, Rosemary Kavan. His father was arrested and tried in a Czech show trial in the 1950s; his mother later wrote a memoir, Love and Freedom.He is a member...		EEG
Fifty-eighth	2003	Julian Hunte Julian Hunte Dr. Julian Robert Hunte, OBE was the foreign minister of Saint Lucia from April 2001 to 26 October 2004, when he was succeeded by Petrus Compton...	Saint Lucia	GRULAC
Fifty-ninth	2004	Jean Ping Jean Ping Jean Ping is a Gabonese diplomat and politician who is currently the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union...		Africa
Sixtieth	2005	Jan Eliasson Jan Eliasson Jan Kenneth Eliasson is a Swedish diplomat and Social Democratic politician.- Biography :Jan Eliasson was born in a working-class family in Gothenburg. He was an AFS exchange student in Indiana, United States, from 1957 to 1958 and was commissioned reserve officer after military training at the...		WEOG
Sixty-first	2006	Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa is a lawyer and diplomat from Bahrain who was the President of the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly which began on September 12, 2006, and closed on September 17, 2007...		Asia
Sixty-second	2007	Srgjan Asan Kerim		EEG
Sixty-third	2008	Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann		GRULAC
Sixty-fourth	2009	Ali Abdussalam Treki	Libya	Africa
Sixty-fifth	2010	Joseph Deiss Joseph Deiss Joseph Deiss is an economist, Swiss politician and a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party . From 1999 to 2006, he was a member of the Swiss Federal Council, heading first the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and then the Federal Department of Economic Affairs...	Switzerland	WEOG
Sixty-sixth Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly The sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2011 at 15:00 and is presided over by former Qatari permanent representative to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser.-Organisation for the session:...	2011	Nassir Al-Nasser Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser is a Qatari diplomat and the current permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations, appointed on 11 September 1998. Prior to his current office at the United Nations, Al-Nasser had served as the ambassador to Jordan since 1993. He has worked for his country's...	Qatar	Asia

Abbreviations:

Pre-1966

• COS - Commonwealth
  Commonwealth of Nations
  The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
  
   Seat
• EAS - Eastern Europe
  Eastern Europe
  Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
  
  an and Asia
  Asia
  Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
  
  n Seat
• LAS - Latin America
  Latin America
  Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
  
  n Seat
• MES - Middle East
  Middle East
  The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
  
  ern Seat
• WES - Western Europe
  Western Europe
  Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
  
  an Seat

Since 1966

• Africa - Africa
  Africa
  Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
  
  n Group
• Asia - Asia
  Asia
  Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
  
  n Group
• EEG - Eastern European Group
  Eastern European Group
  The Eastern European Group is one of the five unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups...
  
  
• GRULAC - Latin America
  Latin America
  Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
  
  n and Caribbean
  Caribbean
  The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
  
   Group
• WEOG - Western European and Others Group
  Western European and Others Group
  The Western European and Others Group is one of several unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups...
  
  

External links

• UN: List of UN General Assembly presidents
• UN General Assembly President Election Reform.
• UNelections.org.
• More news on UN elections and appointments.