Venezuela, Guatemala meet on UN Council impasse

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (Reuters) Ambassadors from Venezuela and Guatemala met today to try to work out a compromise on the deadlocked elections for an open Latin American seat on the U N Security Council, diplomats said.

Argentina's UN Ambassador Cesar Mayoral said the 32-member Latin American group at the United Nations would then hold a session to see if a substitute candidate emerged.

He said his country preferred that all voting stop until a compromise candidate had been found for a two-year term beginning in January.

Both Venezuela and Guatemala have shown willingness to withdraw if they can agree on another candidate. While Guatemala led Venezuela in almost all of the 35 rounds of voting last week, it did not get the required two-thirds majority in the U N General Assembly. At the moment, another round of voting is scheduled for today afternoon.

REUTERS PB HT2048