UNITED NATIONS - After a protracted voting process, States parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea elected commodore Muhammad Arshad of Pakistan as a member of a key body charged with delineation of the outer continental shelf.Arshad, a Hydrographer, won a seat on the 21-member Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) following eight rounds of voting that took place over two days.His election fills the twentieth seat of the 21-seat Commission. Balloting for a final seat — to be filled from the Group of Eastern European States - will take place later this year.Under the terms of the landmark 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Commission consists of experts in the fields of geology, geophysics or hydrography. They are elected to five-year terms, meaning that the terms of those elected this week would begin on 16 June, 2012 and end on 15 June 2017.Members are elected by secret ballot, with those elected receiving a majority of two thirds of the votes of those present and voting.The balloting, which started Wednesday, ended after Spain withdrew the candidacy of Luis Somoza Lozada for the seat and Arshad obtained the support of the required two-thirds majority of the States parties present and voting, with a total of 139 votes.