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 available seats were allocated as follows: The five members will serve on the Security Council for the 2015–16 period.

Malaysian Permanent Representative to the UN Datuk Hussein Haniff said: "I have been participating in all the open debates.

Additionally, he asserted that while Malaysia was the sole candidate as of the end of 2013 for the seat, he hopes that "this will remain so until the electoral process is finalised".

We have to work very hard and we have to engage and meet leaders from various countries to secure the seat, but I am quite confident that Malaysia has a very good name globally".

[22] Opposition has also come from figures such as Hillel Neuer, head of human rights organization UN Watch, according to whom "[e]lecting Venezuela to the UN Security Council is like making a pyromaniac into the fire chief".