Ex-Portugal PM emerges front-runner in UN secy-general race
United Nations, Aug 30: Portugal's former premier Antonio Guterres has emerged as a clear front-runner to succeed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, maintaining his lead in the third straw poll held, as hopes of a woman being elected to the top post were fading.
Guterres garnered 11 encourage, three discourage and one no opinion ballot when the 15-nation Security Council held the third round of straw polls on Monday (Aug 29).
These straw polls continue until there is a majority candidate without a single veto from a permanent member of the Council. That name is then officially transferred to the Assembly, whose membership historically chooses the candidate.
Guterres, who had served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years, had emerged as the front-runner in the previous two rounds of informal voting as well.
Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, arrives for a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 18, 2015.
The largest change has been Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcák moving from the 10th position to second with 9 encourage votes, five discourage and one no opinion.
In joint third place is former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Director-General of UN's cultural organisation UNESCO Irina Bokova, both getting seven encourage votes, five discourage and three no opinion.
Apart from the increased call from UN member states to make the election process of the world's top diplomat more transparent, there is a growing chorus for a woman to be elected for the top job.
The UN has been headed by a male Secretary-General in all of its 70-year history.
However, hopes of a woman being elected are fading since no female candidate has emerged as the front-runner.
UN General Assembly President, who has pushed for making the UNSG selection process transparent, underscored in a statement, that the "informal nature" of the straw polls and stressed that "the absence of any further details beyond the fact that the informal straw poll has taken place adds little value and does not live up to the expectations of the membership and the new standard of openness and transparency."
Current
Secretary-General
Ban
is
the
eighth
occupant
of
the
top
post
in
the
organisation's
70-year
history.
He
took
office
in
January
2007
and
will
be
ending
his
10-year
tenure
on
31
December,
2016.
Under the UN Charter, the organisation's top official is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Council.
The
remaining
candidates
have
all
dropped
from
their
positions
in
the
previous
straw
polls.
Argentinian
Foreign
Minister
Susana
Malcorra
dropped
from
the
3rd
spot
to
5th,
followed
by
former
Macedonian
Foreign
Minister
Srgjan
Kerim,
and
former
New
Zealand
Prime
Minister
Helen
Clark,
who
heads
the
UN
Development
Programme.
The last three positions in the ranking of 10 have former Slovenian President Danilo Turk, Moldova's former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman and former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica.
PTI