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.