Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman has been elected President of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), securing the post in a vote held at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
The election took place at 10am (New York time) in the General Assembly Hall and was conducted under Rule 30 of the Rules of Procedure. The result was announced after voting concluded later in the day.
The results were announced following the conclusion of voting by the current president of the UNGA and former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
She said a total of 190 votes were cast. Bangladesh’s candidate Dr Khalilur Rahman secured 99 votes defeating his rival, Cyprus Ambassador Andreas S. Kakouris, who received 91 votes, by a margin of eight votes.
With the victory, Dr Khalilur Rahman secured the Asia-Pacific Group’s rotational seat for the presidency of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Diplomatic sources told UNB that the contest remained closely watched until the final stages, with shifting geopolitical alignments playing a decisive role in the outcome.
With this win, Bangladesh will preside over the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, marking its return to the high-profile position nearly four decades after it last held the presidency in 1986–87, when then Foreign Minister Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury was elected President of the 41st session.
The presidency of the General Assembly rotates annually among five regional groups: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others. Each of the 193 UN member states casts one vote in the election.
The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly will open on September 8, 2026, with the high-level General Debate scheduled to begin on September 22.
The outgoing president of the 80th session was former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was elected in 2025 with 167 votes in a secret ballot, while 14 delegations abstained during a session marked by global conflicts, development challenges and financial pressures.
