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This
montage shows 9 of the 12 candidates for the next United Nations secretary
general. Upper row from left to right: Montenegro's deputy prime minister and
foreign minister Igor Luksic, former president of Slovenia Danilo Turk, former
prime minister of Portugal and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio
Guterres. Middle row from left to right: former Croatian foreign minister Vesna
Pusic, director-general of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Irina Bokova, former minister of foreign affairs and
European integration of Moldova Natalia Gherman. Bottom row from left to right:
President of the 62th session of the United Nations General Assembly and former
minister of foreign affairs of Macedonia Srgjan Kerim, former Prime Minister of
New Zealand and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Helen Clark, President of the 67th session of the United Nations General
Assembly and former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Serbia Vuk Jeremic. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
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Ten of the 12 candidates vying
to be the next United Nations Secretary-General took part in live televised
debates on Tuesday, a first for the world body, but attempts to bring
unprecedented transparency to the race will not extend to the Security Council
selection process.
Reuters
report continues:
The
193-member U.N. General Assembly has sought to lift a veil of secrecy that has
surrounded the election of the U.N. chief for the past 70 years by requiring
public nominations and holding campaign-style town hall events with each
candidate.
That
transparency extended to two debates - with five candidates in each group - in
the General Assembly on Tuesday, which was broadcast live around the world on
the Al Jazeera television network and on the U.N. website.
Candidates
were pressed by the Al Jazeera hosts, and took questions from the audience, on
issues such as leadership style, climate change, the International Criminal
Court, the civil war in Syria and the recent eruption of fighting in South
Sudan, where U.N. peacekeepers are struggling to protect civilians.
However,
when the 15-member Security Council starts holding informal secret ballots next
week to choose a candidate to recommend to the General Assembly for election
later this year, the results of those closed-door polls will not be made
public.
Council
members will be given a ballot for each candidate with the options of
encourage, discourage and no opinion.
The
council will tally the ballots and inform the nominating states of the results
for their candidate, but the overall results will not be made known to the
public.
Ultimately,
the five nations that hold a veto on the security council - the United States,
Britain, France, Russia and China - have to agree on a candidate and there is
no requirement for them to pay attention to the popularity of candidates with
the General Assembly. The council hopes to agree on a candidate by October,
diplomats say.
Since
the power to authorize military force or sanctions lies with the Security
Council, the U.N. chief has little more than a bully pulpit. Many diplomats say
the veto powers prefer a "secretary" rather than a
"general".
STRENGTH WANTED
Yet
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Tuesday that the more
transparent process, particularly the individual candidate town halls with the
General Assembly, had shown most member states wanted a strong
secretary-general.
"That's
an emerging consensus which wouldn't have been obvious without these changes in
the (selection) process. I think it makes it harder for someone who isn't that
strong to be chosen," Rycroft said.
The
search for a successor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - a former South Korean
foreign minister who steps down at the end of 2016 after two five-year terms -
has sparked a push by more than a quarter of the 193 U.N. states for the world
body's first female leader.
Discussion
on the possibility of a female secretary-general and the role of women in the
world body received enthusiastic applause during Tuesday's debates.
Half
the candidates so far are women: U.N. cultural organization UNESCO
Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria; former Croatian Foreign Minister
Vesna Pusic; Moldova's former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; former New
Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Programme;
Argentinian Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra; and former U.N. climate chief
Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica.
Also
in the race are Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; former Slovenian
President Danilo Turk; former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio
Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister; former Serbian
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic; former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim;
and Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak.
Kerim and Lajcak did not
take part in Tuesday's debates.
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