Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 22nd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held from 4 to 14 December 2023 in New York. The judges were elected for terms of nine years and took office on 11 March 2024.
The judges elected at this session replaced six judges who had been elected in 2014 for full nine-year terms. The newly elected judges will serve for nine years until 2033.
The election was governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Its article 36(8)(a) states that "[t]he States Parties shall, in the selection of judges, take into account the need, within the membership of the Court, for:
Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:
Each candidate has to belong to exactly one list. A minimum of nine judges elected from list A and five judges elected from list B is to be maintained on the court.
Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004.[1]
The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2024:[2]
| Judge | Nationality | List A or B | Regional criteria | Gender | |||||||||
| List A | List B | African | Asian | E. European | GRULAG | WEOG | Female | Male | |||||
| Reine Alapini-Gansou | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Solomy Balungi Bossa | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Miatta Maria Samba | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Tomoko Akane | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Gocha Lordkipanidze | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| María del Socorro Flores Liera | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Rosario Salvatore Aitala | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Joanna Korner | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Kimberly Prost | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | |||||
The nomination period of judges for the 2023 election lasted from 2 January to26 March 2023.[3] It was extended three times (the maximal number of extensions), to 9 April,[4] to 23 April[5] and finally to 7 May,[6] because the required number of four Asian candidates had not been nominated. The final extension also did not result in this requirement being fulfilled. The following persons were nominated:[7]
| Candidate | Nationality | List A or B | Regional criteria | Gender | |||||||||
| List A | List B | African | Asian | E. European | GRULAG | WEOG | Female | Male | |||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Adélaïde Dembélé | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Nicolas Guillou | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Iulia Antoanella Motoc | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Clarence Nelson | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Andriamanankadrianana Rajaona | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| X | X | X | |||||||||||
| 11 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | |||||
Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that articles 36(5) and 36(8)(a) cited above were fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements applied initially:[8]
| Criterion | Number of judges required | Number of judges remaining in office | Ex ante voting requirement | Number of candidates | Adjusted voting requirement | Adjusted voting requirement equals ex ante? |
| Lists A or B | ||||||
| List A | 9 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 1 | |
| List B | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Regional criteria | ||||||
| African | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Asian | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| Eastern European | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| Latin American and Caribbean | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Western European and other | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Gender criteria | ||||||
| Female | 6 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Male | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 3 | |
Regarding the List A or B requirement, one vote had to be cast for a List A candidate and one for a List B candidate.
Regarding the regional criteria, four votes had to be cast for certain regional groups: two for Asian candidates and two for Eastern European candidates.
Regarding the gender criteria, three votes had to be cast for male candidates.
The minimum voting requirements are updated after each ballot to account for the judges already elected. The regional and gender requirements are dropped either if they can no longer be (jointly) fulfilled, or if after four ballots not all seats are filled. The List A or B requirement remains active until a sufficient number of judges has been elected from each list.
The ballot results were as follows:[9]
| Candidate | Nationality | 4 December 2023 | 5 December 2023 | 6 December 2023 | ||||||||
| 1st ballot | 2nd ballot | 3rd ballot | 4th ballot | 5th ballot | 6th ballot | 7th ballot | 8th ballot | 9th ballot | 10th ballot | 11th ballot | ||
| Valid votes cast | 114 | 117 | 116 | 121 | 123 | 123 | 120 | 123 | 119 | 122 | 122 | |
| Two-thirds majority | 76 | 78 | 78 | 81 | 82 | 82 | 80 | 82 | 80 | 82 | 82 | |
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The minimum voting requirements are imposed on the ballots cast, not on the results. Thus, there is no guarantee that a corresponding number of judges is elected. However, in this election this was the case:
| Criterion | Initial minimal voting requirement | Corresponding number of judges elected? |
| List A | 1 | |
| List B | 1 | |
| Asian | 2 | |
| Eastern European | 2 | |
| Male | 3 | |
Note that the minimum voting requirements according to region and gender were dropped after the 4th ballot and were thus no longer being imposed when a second Asian, second Eastern European and third male judge were elected in the 11th, 8th and 10th ballot, respectively.