How to read a UN Security Council vote

A Security Council story often collapses into “the resolution failed” or “the U.S. vetoed it.” The vote itself has more structure than that. Reading the tally is the job of a world-news post.

Who sits on the Council

There are 15 members. Five are permanent: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ten are elected for two-year terms. The presidency rotates monthly.

Two kinds of vote

The Charter treats procedural questions differently from all other (substantive) questions.

• Procedural: nine yes votes. Permanent members do not have a veto.
• Substantive: nine yes votes, including the concurring votes of the permanent members.

In practice, a permanent member that votes no on a substantive draft is using the veto. An abstention by a permanent member is not a veto. A draft can pass 9–0–6 if no permanent member votes no.

What to write down

When a vote lands, record four things before the adjective:

1. Draft number and title.
2. Yes / no / abstain / not participating, by name if a permanent member is in the no column.
3. Whether the vote was procedural or on a draft resolution / amendment.
4. The time and the UN document symbol.

“Failed” is not enough. A draft that gets 13 yes votes and one permanent-member no has a majority and still does not pass. That is a different political fact from a draft that never reaches nine.

What the Council is not

The Council is not the General Assembly. A General Assembly vote is one-state-one-vote and has no veto. Mixing the two in a lede is how explainers lose the plot.

Source cutoff for this note: the Council’s published voting-system page, as retrieved 14 Aug 2026.