Informal U.N. polling to select the next Secretary-General will begin on July 30th

NEW YORK, July 29. /Dunyo IA/. United Nations Security Council has announced that it will hold its first informal closed-door poll to select the next Secretary-General of the organization, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing with “Reuters”.

Seven candidates have been nominated so far. They include Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi (Argentina), former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, former Vice President of Costa Rica Rebeca Grynspan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador María Fernanda Espinosa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, former President of Senegal Macky Sall and Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu, who announced his candidacy last week. All are seeking to succeed U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, whose term as the head of the United Nations is coming to an end.

Informal poll is not an official election but rather an informal procedure designed to gauge the views of Security Council members on the candidates. Each of the Council's 15 members selects one of three options for every candidate: “encourage”, “discourage” or “no opinion”. The voting is conducted behind closed doors.

At present, there is no clear frontrunner in the race. Historical experience shows that the process of selecting the U.N. Secretary-General may proceed through several rounds of informal polling and continue until late September or early October.

Additional candidates may enter the race at a later stage. During the initial rounds, all ballots are identical, and the identity of the country casting a “discourage” vote against any candidate is not disclosed. In the later rounds, however, the five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - use ballots of a different colour. This makes it possible to determine whether a candidate has received a negative vote from one of the permanent members.

In the final stage of the process, the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution recommending that the U.N. General Assembly appoint the next U.N. Secretary-General. The recommendation requires at least nine votes in favour, provided that none of the Council's five permanent members exercises its veto. Candidate must then be appointed by the U.N. General Assembly.

Democratic Republic of the Congo currently holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council. The country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, confirmed that the first informal poll will take place as scheduled. According to him, although Olara Otunnu did not participate in the informal hearings alongside the other candidates, he will nevertheless take part in the first round of informal polling.