Tharoor still behind South Korean nominee in third straw poll

United Nations, Sep 29 (UNI) India's candidate for UN Secretary General Shashi Tharoor lagged behind South Korean nominee Ban Ki-Moon in the third straw poll to decide the successor to incumbent Kofi Annan.

In yesterday afternoon's informal poll, which has no official bearing but is useful in indicating the chances of the main contenders, Mr Tharoor received eight votes in favour, three against and four undecided from the 15-member Security Council -- down from the ten positive endorsements in the last poll.

He was well behind the South Korean Foreign Minister who got 13 encouragements, one discourage and one no opinion. However, Mr Ban also slipped from his earlier high of 14 'for' votes and one undecided.

In the poll, all members of the powerful 15-member Security Council were asked to give their preferences. There was no way to know how the five permanent members on the council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - voted. Their voting pattern is important as any negative vote from any one of them seals the fate of the seven contenders to replace Mr Annan, whose term finishes on December 31.

The third was Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, with seven for, six negative and two undecided votes.

Mr Surakiart Sathirathai of Thailand, the first to announce the candidacy, received five favorable votes - less encouraging than his previous performance.

The other three - Mr Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Mr Zeid al Hussein (Jordan) and Mr Ashraf Ghani (Afghanistan) - got three votes each in favor.

In the next straw poll, scheduled for Monday, the permanent veto-wielding members will use colored ballots to distinguish theirs from those of the ten nonpermanent members.

In the official vote, a candidate running for the UN chief's post must need at least nine votes in his favour and no negative vote from the permanent members. The candidate thus selected by the Security Council must be confirmed by the 192-member UN General Assembly.

UNI XC VD GC1709