Rafael Grossi, Argentina's candidate for UN secretary-general, moved into second place in the Security Council's fifth straw poll on Wednesday, with 6 members encouraging his candidacy, 7 discouraging it and 2 expressing no opinion, according to results leaked to the press.
He got there while losing ground. In the September 29 poll, Grossi had eight "encourage" votes and seven "discourage" votes and ranked third. This time he fell by two "encourage" votes, but Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's ambassador to the UN, dropped from eight to five, with nine "discourage" votes, and he passed her.
Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica who heads the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD, still leads. She received 9 "encourage" votes, down from 10, and her "discourage" votes doubled from three to six. Grossi is director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Argentina formally nominated him in November 2025.
The Council does not publish the results. Greece's ambassador, Aglaia Balta, who holds the Council presidency in October, told reporters only that the poll had taken place. The other four candidates trail: Macky Sall of Senegal had five "encourage" and ten "discourage" votes, Olara Otunnu of Uganda three and twelve, María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador three and nine, and Ivonne A-Baki of Ecuador none and fourteen.
The UN Charter says the General Assembly appoints the secretary-general on the Security Council's recommendation. The straw polls are informal and secret: each of the Council's 15 members gets a ballot for every candidate, marked "encourage," "discourage" or "no opinion expressed." A candidate needs at least nine "encourage" votes in the formal vote and no veto from any of the five permanent members, the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain, any one of which can block a candidate whatever the tally. Because the ballots do not separate permanent from elected members, a "discourage" vote may or may not be a veto.
Clarín reported that Washington is estimated to back Grossi, while he appeared not to have the backing of China or Russia, which hold vetoes as permanent members.
The next straw poll is expected on October 16, and Council diplomats say it may use color-coded ballots that show how the permanent members voted, though not which country cast which vote. Outgoing Secretary-General António Guterres's term ends on December 31.