UN Elects Five Judges to International Court of Justice

The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council elected five judges to the International Court of Justice on November 3, 2026. The new appointees include Rena Lee of Singapore, Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, Francois Alabrune of France, and re-elected incumbents Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Phoebe Okowa of Kenya. Their nine-year terms begin on February 6, 2027.

Rena Lee is the first Singaporean and the first woman from Southeast Asia to serve on the court, securing an absolute majority in the first round of voting. Dapo Akande, a professor of public international law at the University of Oxford, restores British representation to the court for the first time since 2017. The election process required three rounds of voting to resolve a deadlock over the final seat, which ended when Ecuador's Marcelo Vazquez-Bermudez withdrew his candidacy.

These appointments occur as the court manages a record caseload of 24 pending contentious cases, including South Africa's genocide case against Israel. Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Law Minister Edwin Tong stated the results reflect international recognition of Lee's expertise. Akande pledged to apply the law impartially to help resolve international disputes through peaceful means.