General Information - Judges
The Presidency

The President and Vice-President are elected by secret ballot by a majority of the members. They serve for a period of three years and may be re-elected. The President directs the work and supervises the administration of the Tribunal and represents the Tribunal in its relations with States and other entities. The President presides at all meetings of the Tribunal. In the event of an equality of votes, the President has a casting vote. The President is also an ex officio member of the Chamber of Summary Procedure. The President presides over any special chamber of which he is a member.

The Vice-President exercises the functions of the presidency in the event of a vacancy in the presidency or of the inability of the President to exercise the functions of the presidency. The Vice-President is an ex officio member of the Chamber of Summary Procedure and presides over any special chamber of which he or she is a member when the chamber does not include the President.

On 1 October 2008, the Tribunal elected Judge José Luis Jesus as President of the Tribunal for the period 2008-2011 commencing on 1 October 2008 and Judge Helmut Türk as Vice-President of the Tribunal for the period 2008-2011 commencing on 1 October 2008.

The following judges have served as President or Vice-President before the current holders of those offices:
Thomas A. Mensah as President, and Rüdiger Wolfrum as Vice-President, from October 1996 to September 1999.
P. Chandrasekhara Rao as President, and L. Dolliver M. Nelson as Vice-President, from October 1999 to September 2002.
L. Dolliver M. Nelson as President, and Budislav Vukas as Vice-President, from October 2002 to September 2005.
Rüdiger Wolfrum as President, and Joseph Akl as Vice-President, from October 2005 to September 2008.