UN to start holding informal 'straw poll' ballots for next UN Secretary General

The United Nations Security Council will hold the first round of informal closed-door “straw poll” ballots on Thursday to assess support for seven candidates seeking to become the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

The candidates from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Senegal and Uganda are competing to replace Antonio Guterres of Portugal, who will step down at the end of the year after serving two five-year terms.

The next UN chief will face the challenge of restoring the organization’s influence amid growing criticism over its bureaucracy, rising costs and calls for reforms to improve efficiency across its agencies.

The straw polls are informal, non-binding votes conducted among the Security Council’s 15 members. Council members indicate whether they “encourage,” “discourage” or have “no opinion” on each candidate. The voting process is conducted in secret, with only Council members present.

No candidate has emerged as a clear front-runner, and previous selections suggest that multiple rounds of voting could continue through the summer and extend into late September or early October. The process may take longer if members fail to agree on a consensus candidate.

The current candidates include Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog; former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet; former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan; former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa; former Guyanese Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; former Senegalese President Macky Sall; and Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu, who joined the race last week.

Additional candidates may still enter the contest.

During the early rounds of straw polls, all Security Council members cast identical ballots, allowing diplomats to measure overall support and opposition without revealing whether negative votes came from any of the five permanent members with veto power — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

At a later stage, permanent members use a different ballot color from elected members, revealing whether a candidate has received a “discourage” vote from one of the five veto-holding countries.

The Security Council will eventually adopt a resolution, traditionally through a closed-door process, recommending a candidate for appointment by the 193-member UN General Assembly. The recommendation requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes from permanent members. The General Assembly’s approval has historically been considered a formality.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo currently holds the Security Council presidency. Its UN ambassador, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, confirmed on Tuesday that the first round of straw polls would take place on Thursday morning.

Ngay said Otunnu would be included in the process despite not yet participating in the informal hearings completed by other candidates.

Otunnu’s résumé states that he introduced the straw poll system for selecting a new UN secretary-general while serving as Security Council president in 1981.

-Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lincoln Feast/Reuters