The elections were for five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2013 to replace the five countries whose terms expired.

In accordance with the 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 available seats were allocated as follows: The election was for the term from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014.

Rwanda[3][4] Bhutan[5] Cambodia[6] South Korea[7] Argentina[3] Australia[8] Finland[9] Luxembourg[10] Prior to the actual vote, the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rose to speak and said that Rwanda "was an oasis for criminals" operating in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on those grounds, she objected to Rwanda as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

[11] A confidential UN report was also leaked before the election, which stated that Rwanda is involved in the current conflict in the eastern DRC and that "Rwandan officials exercise overall command and strategic planning for M23 ... Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo through direct military support to M23 rebels, facilitation of recruitment, encouragement and facilitation of FARDC (Congolese army) desertions as well as the provision of arms and ammunition, intelligence, and political advice.

"[12] Rwandan UN representative Olivier Nduhungirehe responded by saying, "The members of the General Assembly know exactly what our record is and they cannot be deterred or swayed by a baseless report, which has no credibility.