7. The General Assembly held two meetings devoted to the election of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, called the World Heritage Committee and to different questions relating to the establishment of the World Heritage Fund.
8. Nineteen States Parties were candidates to the World Heritage Committee : Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United States of America,. and Yugoslavia.
9. After explaining that the Committee was composed of 15 members, the Chairman pointed out that there were more candidatures than seats to be filled and he asked if the Assembly wished to proceed to a vote.
10. The Delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic proposed, in view of the practice followed in the elections to various bodies of Unesco and considering the way in which the 26 States Parties to the Convention were assigned to the electoral groups set up for the elections to the Executive Board, that the fifteen
seats be attributed in the following way :
4 seats to Group I
2 seats to Group II
1 seat to Group III
1 seat to Group IV
7 seats to Group V of which 3 to Africa and 4 to the Arab States
11. This proposal gave rise to a wide exchange of views, in which nineteen delegations took part, on the principles to be applied in distributing the seats. Whereas certain delegations expressed their entire agreement with the proposal of the Syrian Arab Republic, others pointed out that, according to Article 8, paragraph 2, of the
Convention, the election of members or the Committee should ensure an equitable representation of the different regions "
and cultures of the world" and that it was necessary to take into account the nature and purpose of the
Convention in determining the geographical distribution of the members of the Committee.
12. At the close of the debate, the delegate of the Syrian Arab Republic announced that two of the Arab States would withdraw their candidature (Syria and Sudan), in order to leave four Arab candidatures (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia), if the Assembly accepted the geographical distribution that he had advocated.
13. After a suspension of the meeting proposed by the Chairman to permit the delegations to reach an agreement, such an agreement could not be reached and the delegation of Australia, seconded by the delegations of Ecuador, Switzerland, Zaire and France, requested a vote by secret ballot, in application of Rule 13.1 of the
Rules of Procedure.
14. After the representative of the Director General had explained the voting procedure by secret ballot, the Chairman appointed the delegates of Bulgaria and Pakistan as tellers and the Assembly proceeded to a vote.
15. The results of the vote, announced by the Chairman, were as follows :
Number of States Parties present and voting 25
Number of valid voting papers 25
France 25 votes
Iran 23 votes
Nigeria 23 votes
Tunisia 23 votes
United States of America 23 votes
Egypt 22 votes
Ecuador 21 votes
Yugoslavia 19 votes
Australia 18 votes
Canada 17 votes
Federal Republic of Germany 17 votes
Ghana 17 votes
Poland 17 votes
Senegal 17 votes
Iraq 15 votes
Jordan 14 votes
Switzerland 14 votes
16. The Chairman declared elected the first fifteen States mentioned above which had obtained the majority of votes required.
17. At the opening of the second meeting, the representative of the Director General recalled the procedure foreseen for the renewal, of members of the World Heritage Committees designated at the first election. In conformity with Article 9 of the
Convention, the term of one-third of the members of the Committee shall cease at the end of the first ordinary session of the General Conference following that at which they were elected, and the term of office of a further third of the members designated at the same time shall cease at the end of the second ordinary session of the General Conference following that at which they were elected. The names of the outgoing members shall be chosen by lot by the President of the General Conference after the first election.
18. The choice by lot took place in Nairobi on 30 November 1976. The official record thereof is set out in Annex I.