Venezuela and Guatemala's marathon contest for an open UN Security Council seat adjourned on Thursday for five days in hopes Latin American nations would resolve the impasse.
After three days and 35 rounds of balloting, Guatemala still led Venezuela by a margin of 20 to 30 votes. The 35th ballot in the 192-member UN General Assembly was 103-81, but front-runner Guatemala lacked the required two-thirds majority.
At issue is an open Latin American seat in the 15-nation Security Council. Guatemala is backed by the Bush administration, and Venezuela sees the race as a battle against Washington and its UN ambassador, John Bolton.
"Mr Bolton has not been able to keep us out of the race," said Venezuelan UN Ambassador Francisco Arias Cardenas.
Armed with petrodollars, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has tried to form an alliance with developing nations in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to challenge Washington's interests.
Failure to win a council seat would represent a setback for Chavez's ambitions for a bigger international profile.
Sheika Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, the new General Assembly president, said the voting would resume on Wednesday, after the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
But so far she has made no move to stop the repetitious balloting that is paralysing the assembly's work and insist on a longer pause for negotiations.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal said he favoured a longer recess and fewer ballots in this "theatre of the absurd," but other nations, including Venezuela, disagreed.
Rosenthal said that as long as Venezuela remained in the race, he had no alternative but to continue.
Bolton agreed and said: "The honourable thing would be for the candidate who has now lost 28 out of 29 votes to withdraw. Venezuela insists on putting everybody through all this - vote after vote after vote."
Guatemala has never had a seat on the prestigious council, whose decisions on war and peace are mandatory for all UN members.
Venezuela has served four times.
Ecuador's UN ambassador, Diego Cordovez, head of the 32-nation Latin American and Caribbean group, said he did not intend to call a formal meeting unless there was some hint of an agreement in the works.
Balloting began on Monday and continued on Tuesday and Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Latin American and Caribbean nations met but did not come up with an agreement.
The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China hold permanent seats on the Security Council. Ten other nations sit on the council for two-year terms, five elected each year.
Guatemala and Venezuela are vying for the Latin American seat that Argentina will vacate on December 31. Peru stays on the council until the end of 2007.
In other regions, South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium received the necessary votes on Monday to win two-year terms in the council beginning on January 1.
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