Guyana’s Rodrigues Birkett leads informal poll in race to be next UN leader

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters.

Key points

• Current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been in the position since 2017, but his second five-year term ends on December 31.
• Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen of Denmark, the council's president for August, confirmed the vote had concluded.
• According to results circulated after the poll, Rodrigues Birkett received eight 'encourage' votes, three 'discourage' votes and four members offering no opinion.
• The secret straw polls are intended to gauge backing among the council's 15 members and gradually narrow the field before a formal recommendation goes to the UNGA.
• The next secretary-general will face the challenge of maintaining the standing of the UN.

For context, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) conducted its second non-binding straw poll on Friday in the race to select the next UN secretary-general, with Guyana's Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett emerging as the frontrunner ahead of seven other declared candidates.

According to results circulated after the poll, Rodrigues Birkett received eight 'encourage' votes, three 'discourage' votes and four members offering no opinion. She was closely followed by Costa Rican diplomat Rebeca Grynspan and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi of Argentina. This person each collected seven 'encourage' votes. Grossi received six 'discourage' votes, compared with Grynspan's four. Grynspan had led the field after the first round of balloting in July.

In practice, the other candidates are former Senegalese President Macky Sall, former UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu and Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki.

Current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been in the position since 2017, but his second five-year term ends on December 31. While there is no formal limit on the number of terms a secretary-general can serve, no one has served more than two.

For context, the secret straw polls are intended to gauge backing among the council's 15 members and gradually narrow the field before a formal recommendation goes to the UNGA. It typically ratifies the council's choice as a formality. A candidate needs at least nine votes in a formal UNSC vote to advance, and any of the five permanent members (the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom) can veto a nominee.

In practice, a number of rounds of the straw polls can take place. In afterwards rounds, the UNSC's permanent members apply a different colour ballot to reveal if a candidate has received a "discourage" vote from one of them.

Notably, the next secretary-general will face the challenge of maintaining the standing of the UN. It has been reduced over recent years. Critics say that the institution, formed in the aftermath of World War II, has not been able to prevent or end conflicts and crises worldwide, including Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In short, guyana's Rodrigues Birkett leads informal poll in race to be next UN is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.