Five women and three men are in the running to succeed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is departing amid unprecedented global instability, war and a severe budget crisis.
Because the world’s major powers are divided on the matter, observers say it is difficult to say who is currently ahead. However, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan was ahead in the first informal vote testing support among the candidates.
The other candidates are Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, currently head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency; Chile’s Michelle Bachelet; Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa; Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; Ecuador’s Yvonne A-Baki; Uganda’s Olara Otunnu; and Senegal’s Macky Sall.
In the selection of the UN’s future secretary-general, the 15-member Security Council will choose one candidate. That name will then be sent to the General Assembly for approval. However, a candidate must secure the required nine votes in the Security Council while also avoiding a veto.
The fate of the UN’s future leadership therefore lies in the hands of the United States, United Kingdom, China, France and Russia.
Brief profiles of the candidates:
Rebeca Grynspan
Costa Rica’s former vice president, Grynspan, heads the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). However, she has taken leave from her post to campaign for the UN’s top job.
She demonstrated diplomatic success by mediating the Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement to keep grain exports flowing between Moscow and Kyiv after Russia’s occupation of Ukraine in 2022.
The 70-year-old Grynspan has also spoken about her own family history. She is the child of Jewish parents. In her words, they “somehow survived” the Holocaust and later emigrated to Costa Rica.
Michelle Bachelet
Chile’s socialist Bachelet endured brutal torture during Augusto Pinochet’s rule. In 2006, she became Chile’s first female president.
She later served as the UN’s human rights chief. During that sensitive role, she developed distance with some countries, particularly China, a rift that widened further after she published a report on Beijing’s treatment of the country’s Uyghur minority.
The 74-year-old Bachelet has said the UN secretary-general’s leadership needs a “moral voice,” even under pressure from major powers.
Mexico and Brazil are backing her. However, Chile withdrew its support after hardline right-wing President Jose Antonio Kast took office. The United States has also criticized Bachelet, particularly over her support for abortion rights.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa
Ecuador’s former foreign minister, Espinosa, has described the UN as the only universal platform for tackling humanity’s shared challenges. However, she wants far more extensive reform at the UN.
The 61-year-old Espinosa is a former president of the UN General Assembly. She has proposed launching an “early warning” system to identify and flag signs of potential conflict.
Antigua and Barbuda has backed her candidacy. However, her own country, Ecuador, has not.
Rafael Grossi
The 65-year-old Grossi is a career Argentine diplomat. Since 2019, he has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a role that has placed him at the center of the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
At the same time, he has also played an important role regarding Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
He has not left his current post to campaign for the secretary-general role. In his view, doing so would be “a dereliction of duty.”
According to some observers, Grossi has taken a stronger stance on the need for UN reform. They believe he holds the view that the UN secretary-general should play a more active role.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett
The 52-year-old Rodrigues-Birkett is Guyana’s former foreign minister. She currently serves as the country’s ambassador to the UN.
She has said the UN needs to restore its “credibility” on the global stage.
She said: “The UN is judged from the perspective of peace and security. But the UN is much bigger than that. The organization works across many areas, including development and human rights.”
Yvonne A-Baki
The 75-year-old Yvonne A-Baki is an Ecuadorian diplomat and politician. She served as Ecuador’s ambassador in Washington, where she is believed to have built a close relationship with US President Donald Trump.
A-Baki, nominated by Tonga, has close ties with the Gulf region. She has served as Ecuador’s ambassador to Qatar.
The child of Lebanese parents, A-Baki played an important role in arranging dialogue between Ecuador and Peru following the brief 1995 border war between the two countries.
She wrote on social media: “I have lived through the devastation of war. I am ready to help implement anew the UN Charter’s fundamental pledge to save future generations from the scourge of war.”
Macky Sall
The 64-year-old Macky Sall is the only candidate who is not from Latin America. By tradition, the next UN secretary-general is expected to come from Latin America.
Senegal’s former president, Sall, has emphasized the relationship between peace and development.
Sall, the candidate proposed by Burundi, the African Union’s current chair, finally secured the backing of his own country as well this week.
Senegalese authorities allege that, between 2021 and 2024, he took harsh measures to suppress violent political protests. Dozens of people were killed in those protests.
Olara Otunnu
The 75-year-old Otunnu served as UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict under then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1997 to 2005.
He has also served as Uganda’s envoy to the UN. He briefly served as the country’s foreign minister as well.
Otunnu was the presidential candidate of the opposition Uganda People’s Congress in the 2011 election. However, he lost to long-time leader Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report