Breaking a deadlock, Guatemala and Venezuela on Wednesday chose Panama as a consensus candidate and withdrew from the race for a seat on the UN Security Council, Ecuador's UN ambassador said.

"They have agreed that Panama will be the country that will replace them as a candidate for the Security Council," said Ecuador's Diego Cordovez, who hosted talks between the foreign ministers of Guatemala and Venezuela.

The 35-member Latin American and Caribbean group must still approve the choice for the seat on the most powerful UN body, and then the UN General Assembly will vote. But the decision by Foreign Ministers Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is expected to stand.

Guatemala, backed by the United States, led Venezuela by about 25 votes in all but one of the 47 rounds of balloting, which began on October 16 and ran for five days. But Guatemala fell short of a required two-thirds majority in the 192-member UN General Assembly to secure the seat.

The 47th round was conducted on Tuesday and a new vote is scheduled in the assembly next Tuesday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the contest a campaign against US dominance over developing nations.

Although Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United States, ties have deteriorated, particularly since Chavez described Washington as his No 1 enemy and called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a General Assembly speech in September. Diplomats said that cost him votes.

"It did not figure in our foreign policy plans to become part of the UN Security Council in the near future," Panama's Foreign Ministry said in a statement in Panama City.

"Nevertheless, our country firmly intends to continue to do as much as possible to promote the UN goals of peace and justice for the world," it said.

Panama, diplomats said, was not mentioned until late in the day of talks between Guatemala and Venezuela. Other potential candidates included Barbados, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

Panama has good relations with the United States and Venezuela and recently welcomed both Bush and Chavez for visits.

Maduro told reporters that "Venezuela will continue to try for the democratization of the United Nations."

He said it was necessary to have "a system that serves peace, that worked for the entire world and not one power," a reference to the United States.

Rosenthal, who had been campaigning for the seat for four years, called US support "a double-edged sword."

"In some ways it probably damaged our campaign," Rosenthal told reporters.

Source: China Daily