[1] In accordance with the Security Council's rotation rules, whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes,[2] the five regularly available seats are allocated as follows: The six elected members began their two-year terms on 1 January 2018,[3][4] and continued to serve on the Security Council until the end of 2019.

As a result of the rotation policy implemented by the Security Council for designation of its temporary seats, two nations from Africa would be selected.

Witold Waszczykowski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, heralded their election as "a great victory for Polish diplomacy".

However, Italy, having claimed the Western European seat the 2016 election, agreed to vacate after one year and allow the Netherlands to take its place.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra said, in a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, that the Dutch delegation would "focus on themes such as justice and the prevention of conflicts" during its tenure.