The UN Security Council met on Friday to conduct another informal poll to evaluate the popularity of candidates seeking to become the next UN Secretary-General. This follows a first informal vote last month, which saw Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan emerge as the front-runner. The 15-member council, including the five veto-wielding nations, will cast secret votes to express their opinions on the candidates.
Candidates in the race include Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, Olara Otunnu of Uganda, and Macky Sall of Senegal. Ecuador's Ivonne A-Baki joined the race after the first poll. Each member state will anonymously assign each candidate one of three labels: 'encourage,' 'discourage,' or 'no opinion.'
Daniel Forti of the International Crisis Group noted that while the first straw poll set the scene, the second may provide some direction on the race's trajectory. Diplomats expect fluctuations in the vote distribution compared to the July poll. It is unlikely that any candidate will emerge from Friday's poll with a decisive lead. Forti added that the veto-wielding nations might wait until later to express their preferences, and new contenders could emerge.
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, speculated that if there is a deadlock among the current candidates, new contenders might be introduced. Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 available in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided. Once a candidate clears these hurdles, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.
The Security Council straw poll was devised in the early 1980s to break a deadlock between two candidates shut down by vetoes. The informal mechanism has persisted, despite criticism from countries opposed to the opaque process. Forti suggested that some nominees might realize after Friday's vote that their campaigns have reached the end of the road.
It is tradition that the UN's top job should rotate between different regions. Under this premise, the role should go to a candidate from Latin America this time. There are many candidates from the region, though Sall and Otunnu hail from Africa. The significance of this process extends to Bangladesh, as the UN plays a crucial role in global peacekeeping and development efforts, directly impacting countries like Bangladesh.
