Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa were elected on Tuesday to the UN Security Council as the non-permanent members of the most powerful UN body.

UN General Assembly hold a meeting to select the five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York Oct. 12, 2010. Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa on Tuesday took uncontested seats on the UN Security Council as the 192-member UN General Assembly gathered to elect five non-permanent members of the most powerful UN body. [Shen Hong/Xinhua]

The 192-member UN General Assembly elected the five countries to serve two-year terms starting Jan. 1.

Like the most previous Security Council elections, Canada, Germany and Portugal were in a heated race for two seats on the 15- nation Security Council even hours before the beginning of the UN members cast their secret ballots.

Colombia, India, Germany and South Africa gained the uncontested seats as they have no opposition and won easily on the first ballot.

Colombia received 186 votes, India won 187 votes, South Africa got 182 votes and Germany won 128 votes in the first round of ballots.

Portugal won 150 votes in the third round of ballots to emerge as the winner for the non-permanent seat on the 15-nation Security Council as Canada withdrew its candidacy for the slot.

Even after the Canadian withdrawal, "Portugal still has to be elected by the two-third votes," said Joseph Deiss, the president of the 65th General Assembly session who chaired the elections. 

This is the first time for Canada to fail in winning the Council seat as the North American country lost support from African and Arab countries for its strong pro-Israeli policies, observers here said.