UN Security Council Holds Second Secret Straw Poll as Eight Candidates Vie for Top Post

The UN Security Council held its second secret straw poll on Friday to determine the successor to Secretary General Antonio Guterres, featuring a competitive field of eight candidates for the international organisation's highest office. This informal ballot aims to measure support before the 15-member council delivers a formal recommendation to the General Assembly, which holds the responsibility of appointing the Secretary General under the UN Charter.

During the process, Security Council members evaluated each contender with labels of “encouraged”, “discouraged”, or “no opinion expressed”. Mirroring the initial poll on July 30, the votes cast by the five permanent, veto-wielding members—Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US—remained indistinguishable from the ballots of the 10 elected members. Maintaining secrecy, no official records were kept, and the ballots were destroyed immediately following the vote. Latvia and Russia served as tellers after being appointed on Thursday.

Following the non-binding vote by the 15 members, a diplomat disclosed that Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana secured eight “encourage” votes, marking the highest total among the eight candidates. Meanwhile, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica—who served as the front-runner last month—and Rafael Grossi of Argentina each garnered seven votes. Conversely, Ivonne Baki of Ecuador, the most recent addition to the race, captured zero “encourage” votes alongside eight “discourage” votes, according to a diplomat.

Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, addressed reporters on Thursday, stating, “If there is a deadlock on any of the candidates we are seeing today, if nobody … flies, then I think that we may see other candidates as well.” The candidate pool expanded to eight following Tonga's nomination of Ecuadorian diplomat Ms Baki on August 17. She joined Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Olara Otunnu of Uganda, and former Senegalese president Macky Sall, alongside Mr Grossi, Ms Grynspan, and Ms Rodrigues-Birkett.

Every candidate has engaged in dialogues with both the General Assembly and the Security Council. Securing advancement requires a minimum of nine votes from the Security Council, alongside successfully avoiding a veto from any of the five permanent members, whose divergent interests often complicate the selection. Upon clearing both hurdles, the Security Council formally recommends the candidate to the General Assembly for final confirmation by the full UN membership.

While this informal voting system has functioned since the 1980s, it continues to face criticism from various UN member states over its secrecy and lack of transparency. Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, explained that the straw polls were established to mitigate gridlock among the P5 during their negotiations. He added that these polls also highlight the perspectives of the council's 10 elected members, whose support proves vital for any candidate attempting to reach the required nine-vote threshold. “The permanent members cannot recommend a SG candidate to the General Assembly without some support from the E10,” Mr Forti told The National.