Race for UN Chief: Costa Rica's Grynspan Extends Lead With 11 Votes in Straw Poll
An informal straw poll by the UN Security Council on October 30 showed former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan extending her lead in the race to become the 10th UN secretary-general, with 11 votes in favour and 4 against, two people close to the process told Reuters.
It was Grynspan's strongest showing in seven closed-door ballots in recent months to choose a successor to António Guterres, who finishes his second five-year term this year.
Argentina's Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, came second with nine votes, and Guyana's UN ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett was third with eight. Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, in her first poll, came fourth with seven in favour, six against and two marked no opinion.
A formal recommendation requires at least nine positive votes and no discourage votes from the five permanent members, whose individual votes were not shown on Friday. In the UN's more than 80-year history there has never been a female secretary-general. Grynspan, a 70-year-old economist, told Reuters this month that the UN has become too risk-averse and its next leader must be prepared to bear the cost of diplomatic failure and try again.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：联合国总部安理会会议厅，Jdforrester 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0 授权 / Photo: UN Security Council chamber, by Jdforrester, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
