Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five states which the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China (formerly the Republic of China), France, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries were all allies in World War II, which they won. They are also all nuclear weapons states. A total of 15 UN member states serve on the UNSC, the remainder of which are elected. Any one of the five permanent members have the power of veto, which enables them to prevent the adoption of any "substantive" draft Council resolution, regardless of its level of international support.
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In practice, one candidate is chosen in private by the Security Council without discussing with member states or publishing a list of candidates. It is UN Security Council practice that the five permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China – have an effective veto over the selection during this stage of the process, though this is not explicitly mentioned in the United Nations Charter. The final candidate is then submitted to the General Assembly for ratification. No candidate has ever been rejected by the General Assembly.