The United Nations Security Council conducted its inaugural straw poll on Thursday, marking the beginning of the assessment process for candidates competing to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. With Guterres’ second term scheduled to conclude at the end of this year, the 15-member council is now moving to identify his potential replacement.
Zenon Mukongo Ngay, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s UN ambassador and the current president of the Security Council, briefed reporters following the closed-door informal session. He confirmed that the results of the poll would be shared with the ambassadors of the nations that nominated candidates, as well as with the president of the General Assembly. However, Ngay declined to release the findings to the public, citing the need to maintain confidentiality and prevent speculation regarding the process.
Addressing concerns about the lack of public disclosure, Ngay stated that the decision to keep the results private was a collective choice made by the Security Council rather than his own. He emphasized that the body aims to balance transparency with efficiency while avoiding premature conjecture. Regarding the timeline for future steps, Ngay noted that a date for the next straw poll has not been finalized but will be scheduled during Denmark’s presidency of the Security Council next month.
There are currently seven individuals in the running for the position: International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, former UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, former Senegalese President Macky Sall, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan, former General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Guyana’s UN Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and former UN official Olara Otunnu of Uganda.
Under the established selection procedure, a candidate must secure a minimum of nine votes within the 15-member council. Furthermore, they must do so without receiving a veto from any of the five permanent members—the United States, Russia, China, Britain, or France—before being officially recommended to the General Assembly. The selection of the next secretary-general is anticipated to take place between September and December, with the successful candidate expected to assume the five-year term on January 1.
