The United Nations voted on Tuesday to elect five judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Kenya's Professor Phoebe Okowa was one of nine candidates, The Star reported. She is seeking a full nine-year term. Her current mandate ends on February 5, 2027.
Okowa joined the court after winning an election in November 2025, The Star reported. She filled the seat left by Somalia's Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, who resigned. According to The Eastleigh Voice, her term began on November 12, 2025. She is the first Kenyan and only the eighth woman to sit on the ICJ bench.
The other candidates are Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, François Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru. Also running are Charles Chernor Jalloh of Sierra Leone, Rena Lee of Singapore, Jin-Hyun Paik of South Korea and Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez of Ecuador. Okowa and Hmoud are the only two who already sit on the court. The outgoing judges from Brazil, France and India are not running again.
To win a seat, a candidate needs an absolute majority in both UN bodies. That means at least eight votes in the 15-member Security Council and 97 in the 193-member General Assembly. The two bodies vote separately. If their results differ, they keep voting until they agree on the same five names. In 2023, when nine candidates also competed for five seats, the Security Council needed five rounds.
The Eastleigh Voice described the race as a rematch with Jalloh. In 2025, their contest went to three rounds. Jalloh had the backing of the Security Council, while Okowa had the General Assembly's. In the final round, both bodies chose Okowa. She won eight Council votes and 106 Assembly votes, while Jalloh got seven and 79.
This time the African Union endorsed both candidates because its foreign ministers could not agree on one in July, the outlet reported. ECOWAS unanimously backed Jalloh. According to The Eastleigh Voice, Okowa had 26 nominations and Jalloh had 13. Kenya's top diplomat, Ekitela Lookale, and the mission in New York lobbied UN missions. President William Ruto raised her bid with other heads of state, the outlet said.
The five winners will start their nine-year terms on February 6, 2027. The ICJ settles disputes between states and gives advisory opinions. According to The Star, judges earned a base salary of $212,784 in 2026. Chatham House has noted that about 20 per cent of all cases since 1945 were filed in the past decade. They include cases linked to Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine.