President of the United Nations General Assembly

Chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly.

StyleHer Excellency
StatusPresiding officer
Member ofGeneral Assembly
ResidenceNew York City
(International Territory)
Quick facts President of the United Nations General Assembly, Style ...
President of the
United Nations General Assembly
Emblem of the United Nations
Flag of the United Nations
since 9 September 2025
United Nations General Assembly
StyleHer Excellency
StatusPresiding officer
Member ofGeneral Assembly
ResidenceNew York City
(International Territory)
SeatUnited Nations Headquarters
AppointerMember states of General Assembly
Term lengthOne year
Constituting instrumentCharter of the United Nations
Inaugural holderPaul-Henri Spaak
Formation1946
Websiteun.org/en/ga/
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Election

A map of the world showing the home countries of presidents of the United Nations General Assembly up until the 76th session of the General Assembly in 2021–22, with historical member states in inset.

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 the UNGA.

The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States.[1]

Because of their powerful stature globally, some of the largest, most powerful countries have never held the presidency, including the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Japan.

A few countries had a national elected as president of UNGA twice: Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary and Nigeria; all the other member states had a national holding this office once (not counting additional special and emergency special sessions of UNGA and also not considering that the then separate East Germany held the presidency once during the Cold War). In addition to the president, a slate of 21 vice-presidents are elected for each General Assembly session. The vice-presidents have the same powers and duties as the president, and the president may designate one of them to cover his or her absence from any meeting or part thereof.[2][3]

List of presidents

More information Year elected, Image ...
Year elected Image Name of president[4]
(Birth–Death)		 UN member state Region Sessions
1946 Paul-Henri Spaak
(1889–1972)		  Belgium WES First
1947 Oswaldo Aranha
(1894–1960)		 Brazil LAS First special
Second
1948 José Arce
(1881–1968)		  Argentina LAS Second special
1948 Herbert Vere Evatt
(1894–1965)		  Australia COS Third
1949 Carlos P. Romulo
(1898–1985)		 Philippines EAS Fourth, First Asian president
1950 Nasrollah Entezam
(1900–1980)		 Iran EAS Fifth
1951 Luis Padilla Nervo
(1894–1985)		 Mexico LAS Sixth
1952 Lester B. Pearson
(1897–1972)		 Canada COS Seventh
1953 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
(1900–1990)		  India COS Eighth, First woman president
1954 Eelco van Kleffens
(1894–1983)		  Netherlands WES Ninth
1955 José Maza Fernández
(1889–1964)		  Chile LAS Tenth
1956 Rudecindo Ortega Mason
(1896–1962)		  Chile LAS First emergency special
Second emergency special
1956 Wan Waithayakon
(1891–1976)		  Thailand EAS Eleventh
1957 Leslie Munro
(1901–1974)		  New Zealand COS Twelfth
Third emergency special
1958 Charles Malik
(1906–1987)		 Lebanon MES Thirteenth
1959 Víctor Andrés Belaúnde
(1893–1966)		  Peru LAS Fourteenth
Fourth emergency special
1960 Frederick Boland
(1904–1985)		  Ireland WES Fifteenth
Third special
1961 Mongi Slim
(1908–1969)		 Tunisia MES Sixteenth, First African president
1962 Muhammad Zafarullah Khan
(1893–1985)		  Pakistan COS Seventeenth
Fourth special
1963 Carlos Sosa Rodríguez
(1912–1997)		 Venezuela LAS Eighteenth
1964 Alex Quaison-Sackey
(1924–1992)		 Ghana COS Nineteenth
1965 Amintore Fanfani
(1908–1999)		  Italy WES Twentieth
1966 Abdul Rahman Pazhwak
(1919–1995)		 Afghanistan Asia Twenty-first
Fifth special
Fifth emergency special
1967 Corneliu Mănescu
(1916–2000)		 Romania EEG Twenty-second
1968 Emilio Arenales Catalán
(1922–1969)		 Guatemala GRULAC Twenty-third
1969 Angie Brooks
(1928–2007)		  Liberia Africa Twenty-fourth
1970 Edvard Hambro
(1911–1977)		  Norway WEOG Twenty-fifth
1971 Adam Malik
(1917–1984)		  Indonesia Asia Twenty-sixth
1972 Stanisław Trepczyński
(1924–2002)		  Poland EEG Twenty-seventh
1973 Leopoldo Benites
(1905–1996)		 Ecuador GRULAC Twenty-eighth
Sixth special
1974 Abdelaziz Bouteflika
(1937–2021)		  Algeria Africa Twenty-ninth
Seventh special
1975 Gaston Thorn
(1928–2007)		  Luxembourg WEOG Thirtieth
1976 Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe
(1913–1980)		 Sri Lanka Asia Thirty-first
1977 Lazar Mojsov
(1920–2011)		 Yugoslavia EEG Thirty-second
Eighth special
Ninth special
Tenth special
1978 Indalecio Liévano
(1917–1982)		  Colombia GRULAC Thirty-third
1979 Salim Ahmed Salim
(born 1942)		 United Republic of Tanzania Africa Thirty-fourth
Sixth emergency special
Seventh emergency special
Eleventh special
1980 Rüdiger von Wechmar
(1923–2007)		 Federal Republic of Germany WEOG Thirty-fifth
Eighth emergency special
1981 Ismat T. Kittani
(1929–2001)		 Iraq Asia Thirty-sixth
Seventh emergency special—Continuation
Ninth emergency special
Twelfth special
1982 Imre Hollai
(1925–2017)		  Hungary EEG Thirty-seventh
1983 Jorge Illueca
(1918–2012)		  Panama GRULAC Thirty-eighth
1984 Paul J. F. Lusaka
(1935–1996)		 Zambia Africa Thirty-ninth
1985 Jaime de Piniés
(1917–2003)		  Spain WEOG Fortieth
Thirteenth special
1986 Humayun Rashid Choudhury
(1928–2001)		  Bangladesh Asia Forty-first
Fourteenth special
1987 Peter Florin
(1921–2014)		 German Democratic Republic EEG Forty-second
Fifteenth special
1988 Dante Caputo
(1943–2018)		  Argentina GRULAC Forty-third
1989 Joseph Nanven Garba
(1943–2002)		  Nigeria Africa Forty-fourth
Sixteenth special
Seventeenth special
Eighteenth special
1990 Guido de Marco
(1931–2010)		  Malta WEOG Forty-fifth
1991 Samir Shihabi
(1925–2010)		  Saudi Arabia Asia Forty-sixth
1992 Stoyan Ganev
(1955–2013)		  Bulgaria EEG Forty-seventh
1993 Rudy Insanally
(1936–2023)		  Guyana GRULAC Forty-eighth
1994 Amara Essy
(1944–2025)		  Ivory Coast Africa Forty-ninth
1995 Diogo de Freitas do Amaral
(1941–2019)		  Portugal WEOG Fiftieth
1996 Razali Ismail
(born 1939)		  Malaysia Asia Fifty-first
Tenth emergency special
Nineteenth special
1997 Hennadiy Udovenko
(1931–2013)		  Ukraine EEG Fifty-second
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
Twentieth special
1998 Didier Opertti
(born 1937)		  Uruguay GRULAC Fifty-third
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
Twenty-first special
1999 Theo-Ben Gurirab
(1938–2018)		 Namibia Africa Fifty-fourth
Twenty-second special
Twenty-third special
Twenty-fourth special
2000 Harri Holkeri
(1937–2011)		  Finland WEOG Fifty-fifth
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
Twenty-fifth special
Twenty-sixth special
2001 Han Seung-soo
(born 1936)		 South Korea Asia Fifty-sixth
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
Twenty-seventh special
2002 Jan Kavan
(born 1946)		  Czech Republic EEG Fifty-seventh
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
2003 Julian Hunte
(born 1940)		 Saint Lucia GRULAC Fifty-eighth
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
2004 Jean Ping
(born 1942)		  Gabon Africa Fifty-ninth
Twenty-eighth special
2005 Jan Eliasson
(born 1940)		  Sweden WEOG Sixtieth
2006 Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa
(born 1952)		  Bahrain Asia Sixty-first
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
2007 Srgjan Kerim
(born 1948)		 FYR Macedonia EEG Sixty-second
2008 Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann
(1933–2017)		  Nicaragua GRULAC Sixty-third
2009 Ali Treki
(1937–2015)		 Libya Africa Sixty-fourth
2010 Joseph Deiss
(born 1946)		  Switzerland WEOG Sixty-fifth
2011 Nassir Al-Nasser[5]
(born 1952)		 Qatar Asia-Pacific Sixty-sixth
2012 Vuk Jeremić
(born 1975)		 Serbia EEG Sixty-seventh (election)
2013 John William Ashe
(1954–2016)		 Antigua and Barbuda GRULAC Sixty-eighth
2014 Sam Kutesa
(born 1949)		 Uganda Africa Sixty-ninth
Twenty-ninth special
2015 Mogens Lykketoft
(born 1946)		 Denmark WEOG Seventieth
Thirtieth special
2016 Peter Thomson
(born 1948)		 Fiji Asia-Pacific Seventy-first (election)
2017 Miroslav Lajčák
(born 1963)		 Slovakia EEG Seventy-second
Tenth emergency special—Continuation
2018 María Fernanda Espinosa
(born 1964)		 Ecuador GRULAC Seventy-third
2019 Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
(born 1957)		 Nigeria Africa Seventy-fourth
2020 Volkan Bozkır
(born 1950)		 Turkey WEOG Seventy-fifth
2021 Abdulla Shahid
(born 1962)		 Maldives Asia-Pacific Seventy-sixth
Eleventh emergency special
2022 Csaba Kőrösi
(born 1958)		 Hungary EEG Seventy-seventh
2023 Dennis Francis
(born 1956)		 Trinidad and Tobago GRULAC Seventy-eighth
2024 Philémon Yang
(born 1947)		 Cameroon Africa Seventy-ninth
2025 Annalena Baerbock
(born 1980)		 Germany WEOG Eightieth
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Abbreviations

Pre-1966
Since 1966

See also

References

External links

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