United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at the
organisation's headquarters in New York on September 21, 2016. The race
to become the next UN chief takes a decisive turn on Wednesday. AFP FILE
PHOTO
UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES
The
race to become the next UN chief takes a decisive turn on Wednesday
when the big powers at the Security Council will for the first time
indicate which candidates they are prepared to block.
During
the sixth straw poll to pick the new secretary-general, Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States will use pink ballots to rate the
candidates, while the other ten council members will use white papers.
The
results from the pink-coloured ballots of the five veto-holding members
will be the ones to watch as the contest to succeed Ban Ki-moon heads
into the final stretch.
There are currently 10
candidates for the top post including frontrunner Antonio Guterres, the
former prime minister of Portugal who was UN refugee chief for a decade.
Guterres
has taken the number-one spot in all five previous straw polls, but has
received two "discourage" votes, fuelling speculation that one of those
may have been cast by a veto power who could block his nomination.
The
straw poll will be the first for European budget commissioner
Kristalina Georgieva after she stormed onto the scene last week as
Bulgaria's new candidate.
Bulgaria had until then
backed UNESCO boss Irina Bokova, but she was pushed aside after her poor
showing in the previous straw polls.
Bokova, however, remains in the race, even if she does not have her government's backing.
There
have been calls for the council to pick a woman to be secretary-general
for the first time in the UN's history and to choose a candidate from
Eastern Europe.
Russia has said the ideal candidate
should tick both those boxes, but France, Britain and the United States
have downplayed the importance of regional rotation.
BACKROOM DEALS
A
"discourage" vote from a veto power does not necessarily spell the end
of a candidacy and could instead open the door to negotiations.
On
Tuesday, the "1 for 7 billion" group of NGOs campaigning for
transparency wrote to the ambassadors from the five powers, urging them
not to trade away support for a candidate for promises of plum UN posts.
The
new UN chief must be able to select a strong team that will be
appointed "not as a result of political deal-making," said campaign
member Bill Pace in the letter.
Russian Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin, who holds the council presidency this month, said he
hoped that a formal vote to pick a nominee could be held soon,
indicating that there could be a consensus candidate.
In
the last ballot, none of the candidates except for Guterres garnered
the minimum nine required votes to be the Security Council's nominee.
During
the secret informal vote, all 15 council members rate the candidates by
marking their ballot with "encourage", "discourage" or "no opinion."
Among
the other contenders is former Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic,
who is likely to face a veto from Western powers for his anti-NATO
stance and his opposition to Kosovo's independence.
Slovak
Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak and Slovenia's former president Danilo
Turk have taken the number two spot in some straw polls, but were well
behind Guterres.
Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana
Malcorra, New Zealand's ex-prime minister and head of the UN Development
Programme, Helen Clark, are among the five women in the race.
Under
the selection process, the nominee to be UN chief would be presented to
the General Assembly for approval. The new secretary-general will begin
work on January 1.
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