Bulgaria would replace UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova as its candidate with European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva, according to these reports.
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Ten candidates are running to succeed Ban, and the name of the next secretary-general could be announced in October at the earliest.
But she admitted to TASS new agency that the German Chancellor had started a conversation with the Russian leadership on possible support from Russia for a candidate “other than the one officially nominated”.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban during a tour of Bulgaria’s borders on September 14.
“Bulgaria has many women who are respected in the world and talented. Whom Bulgaria will nominate is for the country to decide”.
But Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Tuesday that Bokova enjoyed “the full support of the government” ahead of the next informal UN Security Council vote September 26 on the question of the top job.
“We have sought support … and we will continue to do so until September 26”.
The UN Security Council has held four such “straw polls” so far.
Until now, Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres has maintained his spot as first choice to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the next United Nations secretary-general, topping the fourth successive informal poll in the Security Council. UN Security Council members rejecting a candidate will become clearer in the September 26 vote, when colour-coded voting cards will be used. Recent rumours, fuelled by some European Union officials, had it that European Union budget commissioner Kristalina Georgieva would be chosen as a replacement for Bokova or as a second Bulgarian candidate.
This past weekend, reports said that it was possible that with the backing of Germany, three countries – Hungary, Latvia and Croatia – would nominate Georgieva. Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Rumiana Bachvarova said Monday that Bokova’s candidacy was “not sufficiently convincing” and that there would be “news in coming days” on the subject.
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He added that Georgieva’s nomination had been agreed on the sidelines of the most recent meeting of the G-20 states as the common candidate of the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest bloc in the EU.
