All seven contenders for UN secretary-general draw a veto signal in latest poll
No candidate won the backing of all five permanent Security Council members in the sixth straw poll. Diplomats are floating new names, including Bulgaria's Nickolay Mladenov.
Archive image · Photo: Jdforrester / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The race to succeed U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres hit a wall on Friday, when each of the seven candidates received at least one “discourage” vote from a permanent Security Council member in the council’s sixth straw poll, according to diplomats. It was the first time the votes of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France were marked separately in color. Such a vote effectively amounts to a veto.
Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan, head of the U.N. trade and development agency, again led the field, but also drew two discourage votes from permanent members, AP and AFP reported. So did Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Guyana’s U.N. ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. The other contenders are former Senegalese President Macky Sall, Uganda’s Olara Otunnu, and Ecuador’s María Fernanda Espinosa and Ivonne A-Baki. A candidate needs at least nine votes in favor and no discourage vote from a permanent member.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz and Russia's U.N. envoy Vassily Nebenzia both left open the possibility of new candidates. Diplomats cited by AFP named former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov, now high representative for Gaza, among possible new entrants; no candidacy has been announced. The next straw poll is expected the week of Oct. 19, AP reported. Guterres’ term ends Dec. 31.