The UN assembly was due on Thursday to fill five Security Council seats for two-year terms. One post reserved for Latin America and the Caribbean is likely to go to Venezuela, despite US objection.

Malaysia and Angola were the only candidates remaining for seats allocated to Asia and Africa.

The remaining two seats for the Western group of nations have been the focus of months of behind-the-scenes campaigning.

Earlier this week, New Zealand, Spanish and Turkish diplomats hosted diverse UN ambassadors at separate gatherings in New York.

Almost equal support

Foreign diplomats at the UN said the three nations had almost equal support among UN member states within the 193-member General Assembly.

The lobbying coincided with a dramatic appeal by the existing UN Security Council that the world expand its fight against the Ebola epidemic.

Thursday's winners will serve from January 1 until the end of 2016. They will replace five outgoing members - Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

Ambassadors 'hopeful, optimistic'

Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said his country presented a "great spirit of service" in terms of peacekeeping operations.

Turkey's UN ambassador Halit Cevik said he was "strongly hopeful" amid what he called a "very tight race."

New Zealand's UN Ambassador Jim McLay said he was "cautiously optimistic."

Two-year terms

The 15-member Security Council comprises five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus 10 non-permanent members elected for staggered two-year terms to seats allocated by region.

To win, each country must obtain two-thirds support in the assembly or a minimum of 129 votes if all 193 members participate in the vote. Balloting is secret and can run into dozens of rounds before an outcome is reached.

ipj/glb (AP, dpa)