The UN General Assembly on Wednesday resumed voting on the final non-permanent seat on the Security Council.

Venezuela and Guatemala, the two candidates from Latin American and Caribbean group for the seat, remained locked in a stalemate in the 36th round of voting, the first for Wednesday.

Guatemala grabbed 109 votes while Venezuela 72 with six abstentions. Though Guatemala retained the lead, it still fell short of the required two thirds majority of 121.

Earlier, there were reports that envoys from the two nations met with Ecuador's UN ambassador, Diego Cordovez, this month's chairman of the 32-nations Latin American and Caribbean group.

Argentina's UN Ambassador Cesar Mayoral was quoted as saying that members of the Lain American group would hold a session to see if a substitute candidate emerged.

He said his country preferred that all voting stop until a compromise candidate had been found for a two-year term beginning in January.

Both Venezuela and Guatemala have shown willingness to withdraw if they can agree on another candidate. While Guatemala led Venezuela in almost all of the 35 rounds of voting last week, it did not get the required two-thirds majority in the UN General Assembly.

Source: Xinhua