On 18 November 2009, the Assembly of States Parties elected two new judges, Silvia Alejandra Fernandez de Gurmendi (Argentina) and Kuniko Ozaki (Japan), to serve nine-year terms at the Court. With their election, the ICC maintains the majority of women on the bench that was first achieved in January of 2009, and brings the total number of women to 11 out of 18 judges. The Women’s Initiatives highlighted the qualifications of the five judicial candidates in aProfile of Judicial Candidates released shortly before the election.