Argentina’s Rafael Grossi stayed second in the race to become the next UN secretary-general on Friday, October 30, winning 9 “encourage” votes from the Security Council’s 15 members, his highest total so far.
The vote was an informal, secret ballot known as a straw poll, in which each member marks every candidate “encourage”, “discourage” or “no opinion”. Grossi, who runs the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, drew 9 “encourage” and 4 “discourage” votes, according to results leaked to reporters, up from 8 “encourage” votes in the previous poll, on October 16.
Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica, led again with 11 “encourage” votes and as many “discourage” votes as Grossi. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, who had tied with Grossi in the previous poll, was third with 8. Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, nominated on October 21, had 7 in her first poll, and three other candidates trailed far behind. People close to Grossi called it his best showing.
To be recommended to the UN General Assembly, whose 193 members make the final appointment, a candidate needs at least nine votes in the Council’s formal vote and no veto from any of the five permanent members: the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain. Nine “encourage” votes in an informal poll therefore do not decide the race.
Every member used the same ballot this time, so the “discourage” votes cannot be traced to permanent or elected members. In the previous poll, permanent members voted on red ballots and two of them discouraged Grossi, as they did Grynspan and Rodrigues-Birkett. Diplomats said the Council went back to identical ballots so that Nusseibeh, who joined late, would go through the same round as candidates who have been in the race for months.
Hours after the poll, Turkey nominated Feridun Sinirlioğlu, a former Turkish foreign minister and UN envoy who is secretary general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. A letter dated October 30 from Turkey’s UN ambassador to the presidents of the Council and the General Assembly transmits the nomination by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson said the poll showed there was still no consensus and the process was reaching a stalemate, PassBlue reported.
Secretary-General António Guterres’s term ends on December 31. The Council recommended him in 2016 after six straw polls; this was the seventh.
