No Candidate for UN Secretary-General Secured Full Support from All Five Permanent Members in Election
In the latest informal vote for the election of the United Nations Secretary-General, none of the seven candidates won the full support of the Security Council's five permanent members.
In the latest informal vote held to determine the United Nations' new secretary-general, it emerged that none of the seven competing candidates received the necessary support from all five permanent members possessing veto power.
The latest informal vote in the process to determine the successor to António Guterres was held on Friday. As a result of the vote, no candidate emerged who was able to secure the backing of all five permanent members with veto power, consisting of the US, Russia, China, the UK, and France. This situation keeps the door open for new candidates to enter the race if the current contenders fail to persuade the countries with veto power.
The 15 members of the Security Council voted for the seven candidates with "encourage", "discourage", or "no opinion", as they did in the previous five votes. However, this secret ballot went on record as the first time red ballot papers were used to distinguish the votes of the five permanent members.
The three leading candidates in the process—Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, and Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett of Guyana—each received two red "discourage" votes. Rebeca Grynspan maintained her top spot in the rankings with nine "encourage" votes. The next informal vote in the process is planned to take place next week.