(Nov. 13, 1974)
The vote of 91 to 22 was taken to uphold a ruling by the Assembly‘s President, Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, suspending South African participation.
The United States unsuccessfully challenged the ruling, Which was also opposed by Britain, a number of Western Europeans and South Americans, and some others. Nineteen countries abstained.
At the start of each annual general assembly session, the credentials committee reviews submissions from each member state before they are formally admitted. Usually, this is a formality, but on September 27 1974, the credentials of South Africa – which was then operating an apartheid system – were rejected.
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A draft resolution calling for South Africa’s expulsion was eventually put to the security council at the end of October, but it was vetoed by the US, the UK and France.
However, on November 12, the president of the general assembly, Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ruled that given the credentials committee’s decision and the passing of resolution 3207, “the general assembly refuses to allow the delegation of South Africa to participate in its work”. South Africa remained suspended from the general assembly until June 1994 following the ending of apartheid.