Ecuador’s Foreign Minister elected U.N. General Assembly President

Ms. Espinosa defeated Ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake of Honduras by 128 votes to 62, with two abstentions. Espinosa will become the fourth woman to hold the UNGA presidency.

Foreign Minister Espinosa expressed hope that gender parity would continue to make progress and dedicated her election to "all the women in the world who participate in politics today and who face political and media attacks marked by machismo and discrimination."

"I would like to pay a special tribute to the women who struggle every day to access jobs on equal terms, to women and girls who are victims of violence, to girls and adolescents who demand access to quality information and education," she said. "My commitment will always be to them."

Ms. Espinosa will assume the position in September at the start of the 73rd UN General Assembly, taking over from Slovakian Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak.

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, born in 1964 was Minister of National Defense of Ecuador from November 28th, 2012 to September 23rd, 2014. Currently, she is serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Lenin Moreno. She also held several other Ministerial posts previously. She served as the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva from October 2014 to May 2017, and held the same position from 2008 to 2009. Besides her political career, she is also a poet and essayist./.