ABSTRACT
Electoral politics is an important side of multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations, which often involves swapping support between two countries seeking different posts, or the same post in different years. This chapter illustrates the many twists and turns countries endure in steering their candidacies for posts in the United Nations: in this instance, for an elected seat in the Security Council. There were rising expectations, promoted by several Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) members, that a consensus candidate would indeed be forthcoming, which could easily mitigate the incentive for countries to continue supporting Guatemala. GRULAC respected the request to let Guatemala run unopposed in 2011. Venezuela's frequent protestations regarding its willingness to step down but Guatemala's insistence on continuing its campaign were having an impact; that is, Guatemala was increasingly being viewed as the obstacle to a rapid solution to the stalemate.
