Prime Minister John Key says the results of the latest United Nations poll vindicate Helen Clark’s decision to stay in the race to become Secretary General.
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“Countries want to have her on that shortlist so that when the serious negotiations start she’s one of the options on the table”, McCully said from Pohnpei where both he and Key are attending the Pacific Islands Forum.
Former NZ prime minister Helen Clark has suffered another blow in her campaign to head the UN.
“When you look through the list this time it’s pretty easy to see many of those who now favour better than Helen Clark in the straw polls are going to go the way of the veto, so if you’re looking at a net list of candidates that will be available for the short list I think she’s in reasonable shape”.
After the last straw poll Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Prime Minister John Key said there was still no reason for Clark to drop out of the race because of the possibility of changes in candidates’ fortunes once the vetoes came into play.
“I think she’ll be naturally pleased the position’s improved slightly”.
Labour Party foreign affairs spokesperson David Shearer said there was still plenty of horse trading left to do before a new United Nations Secretary-General was named. “So if we look at a net list of candidates for the short list, I think she’s in reasonable shape and is justified in making the decision to stay in the contest”.
However she faded lower in the pecking order after the latest straw poll, coming in behind two other female candidates – Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova in fifth and Argentinian Susana Malcorra in seventh.
The established frontrunner, former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres, came out on top again.
Helen Clark is still in the running for UN Secretary General.
Mr McCully said Miss Clark was relieved the ballot gave her a small improvement when there was a risk she could have received more discourages.
She came seventh in the second poll as well, with six “encourage”, eight “discourage”, and one “no opinion”, having dropped from sixth in the first poll.
“What’s nearly certainly going to happen is that some of the people riding very high at the moment will actually be knocked out of the race because the permanent five will cast their vetoes”.
“There are some candidates ahead of her who are still polling very, very well, but we’ll just keep pushing that case for her in NY”. It is rumoured the Russians have shown strong opposition to Mr Guterres, which could open the way for another candidate.
The Security Council will hold secret ballots until a consensus is reached on a candidate to replace United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon of South Korea who steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms.
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The straw polls are held in secrecy and while the overall results have been leaked there is no indication of the way individual Security Council members have voted.
