Panama’s election to the United Nations Security Council, Tuesday brought a close to the deadlocked competition between the US supported Guatemala and the CARICOM endorsed Venezuela. The two had been vying for the seat since October.

With 164 votes in the 192-member General Assembly Panama took the seat in the 48^th round of balloting, capturing more than the 120 needed to win the post, which takes effect on January 1, 2007.

Both Guatemala and Venezuela decided last week to withdraw from the race. Guatemala who had the lead throughout jost of the contest, failed to garner the two-thirds majority that was needed to win the seat.

The non-permanent members whose term will end in January are Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. The five permanent members, the only ones with veto power when voting are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States.