Palestine Candidate Withdraws Bid For UNGA Presidency

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Palestine’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations (UN) has withdrawn the candidature of Riyad Mansour for the president’s post of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), reported Xinhua.

The withdrawal was due to the prevailing conditions in Palestine, said UNGA President Annalena Baerbock, who made the announcement on Thursday, in a letter to all permanent representatives and permanent observers to the UN.

In accordance with the established regional rotation, the president of the 81st UNGA session will be elected from the Asia Pacific Group.

Following Mansour's withdrawal, two candidates remain in the race for the post – Md. Touhid Hossain of Bangladesh and Andreas S. Kakouris of Cyprus.

According to a note sent to reporters on Thursday, Baerbock will convene informal dialogues with the candidates in May, and an election will be held on June 2. 

--BERNAMA-XINHUA