UNITED NATIONS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Two female candidates, respectively from Central and South America, will run for president of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), a UN spokesman said on Thursday.

The Permanent Representative of Honduras to the UN, Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, will contest in the June 5 election of the 73rd UNGA President, said Brenden Varma, spokesman for the UNGA President, at a daily news briefing.

If elected, the new president will replace Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, who has been elected as the UNGA President of the 72nd session beginning in September 2017.

The UNGA President is a position voted for by representatives in the UNGA on a yearly basis. The president presides over sessions of the UNGA.

Following an informal policy of geographical rotation for the one-year post, candidates from Latin America and the Caribbean are eligible for this year's election.

The UNGA is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. Comprising all 193 UN member states, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of international issues including peace and security.