President of the United Nations General Assembly


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

Election

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.
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 absence from any meeting or part thereof.

List of presidents

Abbreviations

; Pre-1966
; Since 1966