 |
The process of selecting
the UN secretary-general and past leaders of the world body
|
After
months of public campaigning, debates and open hearings, Security Council
ambassadors huddle behind closed doors on Thursday to begin secret voting for a
new secretary-general to lead the world body.
AFP report continues:
The 15 council members
including the powerful permanent five — Britain, China, France, Russia and the
United States — will each rate the 12 candidates running for the top job with
a ballot marked "encourage," "discourage" or "no
opinion."
The results of the first
round of straw polls will not be announced, but they will be communicated to
the governments that have put forward candidates to replace Ban Ki-moon in
January.
Among the top contenders
are Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, Slovenia's ex-president
Danilo Turk, New Zealand's ex-prime minister Helen Clark and Antonio Guterres,
who served as Portugal's prime minister and headed the UN refugee agency.
Six of the 12 candidates
are women. The bulk of the contenders — eight — are from eastern Europe.
The secret vote follows a
new, more open process that for the first time in the UN's history provided for
hearings to allow candidates to present their pitch for the top job before the
General Assembly.
UN member states have
complained for years that the secretary-general is chosen not for his or her
ability to lead the world body but to serve the permanent five members.
One of the most energetic
campaigners in the race, Clark said the new transparency had allowed "a
different type of candidate" to emerge, with less emphasis on diplomatic
background.
"This process has
thrown up more personal leadership experience and presentation
experience," Clark told AFP ahead of the vote.
"The issue is: will
the more transparent process, which has produced a different profile of
candidate, lead to a different result? That's an open question."
- UN chief
from eastern Europe? -
Security Council members
are facing calls to pick the first woman after eight men in the job, and to
give preference to a candidate from eastern Europe, the only region that has
yet to be represented in the top post.
However, divisions among
Eastern Europeans have meant that no clear frontrunner has emerged from that
region.
More candidates from
eastern Europe could come forward as a result of the vote. Australia's former Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd is also expected to throw his hat in the ring.
Ukraine, which will be
casting its straw poll as a non-permanent council member, is not committed to
backing a candidate from eastern Europe.
"I would say that we
are looking overall at the person," Ukraine's Ambassador Volodymyr
Yelchenko told AFP. "We will not limit our encouragements to eastern
European candidates."
Several rounds of straw
polls are expected to be held before the council agrees on a consensus
candidate, which is likely to happen in October.
At some stage, the
council will introduce color-coded ballots for the permanent five members,
allowing them to cast an effective veto to block any candidate.
From now on, the
selection process becomes more opaque, with some comparing the vote to a
Vatican conclave convened to elect the pope.
The transparency and
openness is "the UN's version of populism," said Hugh Dugan, a former
US diplomat now at Seton Hall University's school of diplomacy.
"I see the gloves
coming off. The 15 will meet and it will turn into the five and then turn into
the two -- Russia and the US."
Once the council agrees on a nominee, the General Assembly will endorse the choice. The new UN chief will begin work on January 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment