Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaking during a joint news conference in Amman on Jan. 6, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Muhammad Hamed.

Saudi Arabia has postponed an upcoming Arab Summit in Riyadh to April, saying the original date in late March clashed with Egypt’s presidential election, the Saudi chairman of an Arab League meeting said on Wednesday.

At a joint press conference with Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Ahmed al-Qattan, state minister for African affairs, also said that the Arab states will seek to prevent Israel from gaining a rotating seat on the UN Security Council in 2019.

Winning a Security Council seat requires a two-thirds majority in the 193-nation General Assembly. Candidates are proposed by the five regional groups but election to the council is done by the full assembly.