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.
Election
thumb|left|300px|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.
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.
List of presidents
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
|-
!Year elected
!Image
!Name of president<br /><small>(Birth–Death)</small>
!UN member state
!Region
!Sessions
|-
|1946
|60px
|Paul-Henri Spaak<br />
|
|WES
|First
|-
|1947
|60px
|Oswaldo Aranha<br />
|
|LAS
|First special<br>Second
|-
|
|60px
|José Arce<br />
|
|LAS
|Second special
|-
|
|60px
|Herbert Vere Evatt<br />
|
|COS
|Third
|-
|1949
|60px
|Carlos P. Romulo<br />
|
|EAS
|Fourth, First Asian president
|-
|1950
|60px
|Nasrollah Entezam<br />
|
|EAS
|Fifth
|-
|1951
|60px
|Luis Padilla Nervo<br />
|
|LAS
|Sixth
|-
|1952
|60px
|Lester B. Pearson<br />
|
|COS
|Seventh
|-
|1953
|60px
|Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit<br />
|
|COS
|Eighth, First woman president
|-
|1954
|60px
|Eelco van Kleffens<br />
|
|WES
|Ninth
|-
|1955
|60px
|José Maza Fernández<br />
|
|LAS
|Tenth
|-
|
|60px
|Rudecindo Ortega Mason<br />
|
|LAS
|First emergency special<br>Second emergency special
|-
|
| 60px
|Wan Waithayakon<br />
|
|EAS
|Eleventh
|-
|1957
|60px
|Leslie Munro<br />
|
|COS
|Twelfth<br>Third emergency special
|-
|1958
|60px
|Charles Malik<br />
|
|MES
|Thirteenth
|-
|1959
|60px
|Víctor Andrés Belaúnde<br />
|
|LAS
|Fourteenth<br>Fourth emergency special
|-
|1960
|60px
|Frederick Boland<br />
|
|WES
|Fifteenth<br>Third special
|-
|1961
|60px
|Mongi Slim<br />
|
|MES
|Sixteenth, First African president
|-
|1962
|60px
|Muhammad Zafarullah Khan<br />
|
|COS
|Seventeenth<br>Fourth special
|-
|1963
|60px
|Carlos Sosa Rodríguez<br />
|
|LAS
|Eighteenth
|-
|1964
|60px
|Alex Quaison-Sackey<br />
|
|COS
|Nineteenth
|-
|1965
|60px
|Amintore Fanfani<br />
|
|WES
|Twentieth
|-
|1966
|
|Abdul Rahman Pazhwak<br />
|
|Asia
|Twenty-first<br>Fifth special<br>Fifth emergency special
|-
|1967
|60px
|Corneliu Mănescu<br />
|
|EEG
|Twenty-second
|-
|1968
|60px
|Emilio Arenales Catalán<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Twenty-third
|-
|1969
|60px
|Angie Brooks<br />
|
|Africa
|Twenty-fourth
|-
|1970
|60px
|Edvard Hambro<br />
|
|WEOG
|Twenty-fifth
|-
|1971
|60px
|Adam Malik<br />
|
|Asia
|Twenty-sixth
|-
|1972
|60px
|Stanisław Trepczyński<br />
|
|EEG
|Twenty-seventh
|-
|1973
|60px
|Leopoldo Benites<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Twenty-eighth<br>Sixth special
|-
|1974
|60px
|Abdelaziz Bouteflika<br />
|
|Africa
|Twenty-ninth<br>Seventh special
|-
|1975
|60px
|Gaston Thorn<br />
|
|WEOG
|Thirtieth
|-
|1976
|60px
|Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe<br />
|
|Asia
|Thirty-first
|-
|1977
|60px
|Lazar Mojsov<br />
|
|EEG
|Thirty-second<br>Eighth special<br>Ninth special<br>Tenth special
|-
|1978
|60px
|Indalecio Liévano<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Thirty-third
|-
|1979
|60px
|Salim Ahmed Salim<br />
|
|Africa
|Thirty-fourth<br>Sixth emergency special<br>Seventh emergency special<br>Eleventh special
|-
|1980
|60px
|Rüdiger von Wechmar<br />
|
|WEOG
|Thirty-fifth<br>Eighth emergency special
|-
|1981
|60x60px
|Ismat T. Kittani<br />
|
|Asia
|Thirty-sixth<br>Seventh emergency special—Continuation<br>Ninth emergency special<br>Twelfth special
|-
|1982
|60px
|Imre Hollai<br />
|
|EEG
|Thirty-seventh
|-
|1983
|60px
|Jorge Illueca<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Thirty-eighth
|-
|1984
|
|Paul J. F. Lusaka<br />
|
|Africa
|Thirty-ninth
|-
|1985
|80x80px
|Jaime de Piniés<br />
|
|WEOG
|Fortieth<br>Thirteenth special
|-
|1986
|60px
|Humayun Rashid Choudhury<br />
|
|Asia
|Forty-first<br>Fourteenth special
|-
|1987
|60px
|Peter Florin<br />
|
|EEG
|Forty-second<br>Fifteenth special
|-
|1988
|60px
|Dante Caputo<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Forty-third
|-
|1989
|60px
|Joseph Nanven Garba<br />
|
|Africa
|Forty-fourth<br>Sixteenth special<br>Seventeenth special<br>Eighteenth special
|-
|1990
|60px
|Guido de Marco<br />
|
|WEOG
|Forty-fifth
|-
|1991
|60px
|Samir Shihabi<br />
|
|Asia
|Forty-sixth
|-
|1992
|60px
|Stoyan Ganev<br />
|
|EEG
|Forty-seventh
|-
|1993
|60px
|Rudy Insanally<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Forty-eighth
|-
|1994
|60px
|Amara Essy<br />
|
|Africa
|Forty-ninth
|-
|1995
|60px
|Diogo Freitas do Amaral<br />
|
|WEOG
|Fiftieth
|-
|1996
|60px
|Razali Ismail<br />
|
|Asia
|Fifty-first<br>Tenth emergency special<br>Nineteenth special
|-
|1997
|60px
|Hennadiy Udovenko<br />
|
|EEG
|Fifty-second<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation<br>Twentieth special
|-
|1998
|60px
|Didier Opertti<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Fifty-third<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation<br>Twenty-first special
|-
|1999
|60px
|Theo-Ben Gurirab<br />
|
|Africa
|Fifty-fourth<br>Twenty-second special<br>Twenty-third special<br>Twenty-fourth special
|-
|2000
|60px
|Harri Holkeri<br />
|
|WEOG
|Fifty-fifth<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation<br>Twenty-fifth special<br>Twenty-sixth special
|-
|2001
|60px
|Han Seung-soo<br />
|
|Asia
|Fifty-sixth<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation <br> Twenty-seventh special
|-
|2002
|60px
|Jan Kavan<br />
|
|EEG
|Fifty-seventh<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation
|-
|2003
|60px
|Julian Hunte<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Fifty-eighth<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation
|-
|2004
|60px
|Jean Ping<br />
|
|Africa
|Fifty-ninth <br> Twenty-eighth special
|-
|2005
|60px
|Jan Eliasson<br />
|
|WEOG
|Sixtieth
|-
|2006
|60px
|Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa<br />
|
|Asia
|Sixty-first<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation
|-
|2007
|60px
|Srgjan Kerim<br />
|
|EEG
|Sixty-second
|-
|2008
|60px
|Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Sixty-third
|-
|2009
|60px
|Ali Treki<br />
|
|Africa
|Sixty-fourth
|-
|2010
|60px
|Joseph Deiss<br />
|
|WEOG
|Sixty-fifth
|-
|2011
|60px
|Nassir Al-Nasser<br />
|
|Asia-Pacific
|Sixty-sixth
|-
|2012
|60px
|Vuk Jeremić<br />
|
|EEG
|Sixty-seventh (election)
|-
|2013
|60px
|John William Ashe<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Sixty-eighth
|-
|2014
|60px
|Sam Kutesa<br />
|
|Africa
|Sixty-ninth <br> Twenty-ninth special
|-
|2015
|60px
|Mogens Lykketoft<br />
|
|WEOG
|Seventieth <br> Thirtieth special
|-
|2016
|60px
|Peter Thomson<br />
|
|Asia-Pacific
|Seventy-first (election)
|-
|2017
|60px
|Miroslav Lajčák<br />
|
|EEG
|Seventy-second<br>Tenth emergency special—Continuation
|-
|2018
|60px
|María Fernanda Espinosa<br />
|
|GRULAC
|Seventy-third
|-
|2019
|60px
|Tijjani Muhammad-Bande<br />
|
|Africa
|Seventy-fourth
|-
|2020
|60px
|Volkan Bozkır<br />
|
|WEOG
|Seventy-fifth
|-
|2021
|60px
|Abdulla Shahid<br />
|
| Asia-Pacific
|Seventy-sixth<br>Eleventh emergency special
|-
|2022
|60px
|Csaba Kőrösi<br />
|
| EEG
|Seventy-seventh
|-
|2023
|60px
|Dennis Francis<br />
|
| GRULAC
|Seventy-eighth
|-
|2024
|60px
|Philémon Yang<br />
|
| Africa
|Seventy-ninth
|-
|2025
|90x90px
|Annalena Baerbock<br />
|
| WEOG
|Eightieth
|}
Abbreviations
; Pre-1966
- COS: Commonwealth Seat
- EAS: Eastern European and Asian Seat
- LAS: Latin American Seat
- MES: Middle Eastern Seat
- WES: Western European Seat
; Since 1966
- Africa: African Group
- Asia-Pacific: Asian Group, since 2011 the Asia-Pacific Group
- EEG: Eastern European Group
- GRULAC: Latin American and Caribbean Group
- WEOG: Western European and Others Group
See also
- President of the United Nations Security Council
- President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
- Vice-President of the United Nations General Assembly
- High-Level Week of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly 2025
- List of UN General Assembly sessions
References
External links
- UN: List of UN General Assembly presidents
- UN General Assembly President Election Reform.
- UNelections.org.
- Elections and appointments (2020-2021)