UNITED NATIONS, March 22 (UPI) -- A 23-nation poll released Tuesday indicates most people around the world are looking for an expanded -- but dramatically reformed -- United Nations.
The BBC World Series poll found many people worldwide are looking for the international organization to play a larger role in world affairs, but also want the powerful Security Council changed to make it more representative of the world community.
The majority of respondents in 22 of 23 countries polled supported adding new permanent members to the U.N. Security Council, which currently has five permanent members and 10 members chosen for two-year terms. Germany, Japan, India and Brazil topped the list of possible new permanent members.
Support for expanding the roster was particularly strong in Italy, Canada, Germany, Australia and Spain, none of which are currently on the Security Council.
Most respondents -- including those in permanent member states Britain, China and the United States -- also favored giving the Security Council power to override the veto power of any one permanent state.
The findings were based on polls of 23,518 people worldwide conducted in December in most countries, and have an error margin of up to 4 percentage points.
