UNGA elects Ecuador's Espinosa Graces as its next president; Pakistan hails

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly has elected Ecuador Foreign Minister Mar'­a Fernanda Espinosa Garces as president of its 73rd session which is scheduled to begin in September -- the only fourth woman to preside over the world body's most representative body in its history.

She defeated Honduras' UN Ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake by a 128-62 vote, with two abstentions on Tuesday.

Espinosa Graces dedicated the election to "all the women in the world who participate in politics today and who face political and media attacks marked by machismo and discrimination."

The election of Ecuador's Espinosa Graces was seen here as another setback to the US, which was lobbying for Honduras' Ambassador Flake.

The Ecuadorian foreign minister will take over from the current council president, Miroslav Lajcak of Slovania, on September 18.

"We are delighted with the election of a female president of the General Assembly," Pakistan UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said in an interview with APP after the vote.

"Ecuador has always taken principled positions, including on the issue of Palestine. And we are delighted with the outcome," Ambassador Lodhi said.

While the presidency of the General Assembly is largely ceremonial, it is also prestigious.

The world body controls the UN budget, adopts treaties and passes numerous resolutions that while not legally binding generally reflect global opinion.

Espinosa Graces joins the short list of female assembly presidents that began in 1953 with Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the sister of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and aunt of later Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

She was followed by Angie Elisabeth Brooks of Liberia in 1969 and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain in 2006.