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The UN Security Council held a third informal vote on Friday to gauge support for candidates seeking to become the next UN secretary-general, but no clear frontrunner has emerged as world leaders prepare to gather in New York for the annual high-level session.
The secret straw poll lasted more than an hour. France’s UN ambassador and Security Council President Jerome Bonnafont confirmed that the council had completed the third round but did not disclose the results.
Eight candidates are competing to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term ends in December. Several Security Council members have expressed support for electing the UN’s first woman secretary-general.
Guyanese former foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett narrowly led the second round of voting, followed by Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Rafael Grossi of Argentina, who heads the UN nuclear watchdog.
The other candidates are Senegal’s former president Macky Sall, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki, Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa and Uganda’s Olara Otunnu.
Under the informal voting system, each of the 15 council members anonymously classifies candidates as “encourage,” “discourage” or “no opinion.” The five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — use differently coloured ballots, allowing potential vetoes to be identified without revealing which country cast them.
A candidate must secure at least nine votes in the 15-member council and avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members before being put forward to the UN General Assembly for approval.
With the permanent members divided on several issues, diplomats have speculated that they could eventually seek a compromise candidate from outside the current field.
“If that happens in a way that’s not transparent… then we have a problem,” one diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, said the coming rounds would show whether one or two candidates can consolidate support or whether the race remains open to additional contenders.
A US State Department official said candidates should commit to reforms and return the UN to what Washington considers its core mission of maintaining international peace and security.
Another straw poll could be held after the UN’s high-level week, although that has not been confirmed.