Eight ‘encourage’ votes put the Guyanese ambassador forward because the council works in the direction of consensus earlier than present Secretary-Common Guterres departs on the finish of December.
Printed On 22 Aug 2026
The United Nations Safety Council (UNSC) performed its second non-binding straw ballot on Friday within the race to pick out the next UN secretary-general, with Guyana’s Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett rising because the frontrunner forward of seven different declared candidates.
Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen of Denmark, the council’s president for August, confirmed the vote had concluded.
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In keeping with outcomes circulated after the ballot, Rodrigues Birkett obtained eight ‘encourage’ votes, three ‘discourage’ votes and 4 members providing no opinion. She was carefully adopted by Costa Rican diplomat Rebeca Grynspan and Worldwide Atomic Power Company chief Rafael Grossi of Argentina, who every collected seven ‘encourage’ votes. Grossi obtained six ‘discourage’ votes, in contrast with Grynspan’s 4. Grynspan had led the sphere after the primary spherical of balloting in July.
The opposite candidates are former Senegalese President Macky Sall, former UN Common Meeting (UNGA) President Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu and Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki.
Present UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres has been within the place since 2017, however his second five-year time period ends on December 31. Whereas there isn’t a formal restrict on the variety of phrases a secretary-general can serve, nobody has served greater than two.
The key straw polls are meant to gauge assist among the many council’s 15 members and progressively slender the sphere earlier than a proper suggestion goes to the UNGA, which generally ratifies the council’s alternative as a formality. A candidate wants a minimum of 9 votes in a proper UNSC vote to advance, and any of the 5 everlasting members (the USA, China, France, Russia, and the UK) can veto a nominee.
A number of rounds of the straw polls can happen. In later rounds, the UNSC’s everlasting members use a distinct color poll to disclose if a candidate has obtained a “discourage” vote from considered one of them.
The subsequent secretary-general will face the problem of sustaining the standing of the UN, which has been lowered lately. Critics say that the establishment, fashioned within the aftermath of World Conflict II, has not been capable of prevent or end conflicts and crises all over the world, together with Israel’s genocidal battle on Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
