The UN Charter says relatively little about how a Secretary-General is to be selected, aside from Article 97, which notes that the candidate “shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”.
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By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions and Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the top post. Please see our terms of service for more information.
An unofficial rule regarding regional rotation would put Eastern Europe next in line for the seat, and fair geographic representation within the United Nations has been a persistent demand from many of its members.
However it is the 15-member Security Council which will choose a candidate to recommend to the General Assembly for election later this year. If a candidate receives a “discourage” vote from a P-5 member it probably means their candidacy is sunk. If a candidate performs poorly, they might consider withdrawing their candidacy.
But the final decision still comes down to the 15-member Security Council and more specifically, the five permanent members – the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China, also known as the P5, who have the power to veto any candidate.
“It’s interesting that one candidate was the clear leader and did very well”.
He said the poll is to inform the candidates of where they stand in the race and also inform the council members how the race might go on from here.
While it is officially up to the General Assembly to appoint the new secretary-general, as in past cases, the Security Council is likely to only refer one consensus candidate for consideration.
This year, the Assembly took a more active role in the selection process, aiming to make it more transparent and inclusive.
There are now 12 candidates in the race, six of them women, but diplomats expect some to withdraw based on the result of the first round. “If you are talking about an Eastern European [secretary-general], Russian Federation does have a crucial role to play”, said a Security Council diplomat.
Each of the permanent members has a veto, so they must agree on a candidate amenable to all.
Preliminary reports from AFP indicate Antonio Guterres, the former United Nations high commissioner for refugees and former Portuguese prime minister, won, followed by former Slovenian President Danilo Turk.
“It’s one of the most wonderful jobs in the world”, Danilo Turk, 64, a former Slovenian president and candidate said in an interview.
“The United Nations needs a strong secretary-general to lead it in the years ahead”.
“We see things that are going to happen and we fail to organize ourselves, the worldwide community, to be able to act and prevent those conflicts that are then soon going to appear”. She said her region has “been through profound transformation” and its “experience is extremely important and valuable in this particular moment”.
Just how critically geography and gender will factor into Security Council members’ final decisions is unclear.
Moldova’s Natalia Gherman, Montenegro’s Igor Luksic and former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica were among the bottom tier.
“We need to whittle it down to a reasonable number through the straw polls”. But with the race much more public this time nominees might drop their bids sooner if they have weak support, rather than endure the potential embarrassment of repeated poor showings.
The nominating states will be told of the results for their candidate, but overall results will not be made public. Also, by the end of the day we could get a more firm sense of whether or not Russian Federation intends to only consider candidates from Easter Europe.
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Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Programme, was fifth, followed by Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, Argentinian Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, and former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica.
