UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – In a departure from 70 years of secrecy, candidates for United Nations secretary-general will this week make campaign-style pitches to the General Assembly as it hopes to influence the private Security Council poll that picks the winner.
The search for a successor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – a former South Korean foreign minister who steps down at the end of the 2016 after two five-year terms – has also sparked a push by more than a quarter of UN states for the organization’s first female leader.
While the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for election as the eighth UN secretary-general later this year, the General Assembly vote has long been seen as a rubber stamp.
The council’s veto powers, the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France, must agree on the nominee. That effectively makes the five veto-power countries kingmakers – or queenmakers.
After changes instituted by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates is for the first time public with nomination letters and candidate resumes posted online.
In another first, the eight candidates who have so far been nominated will hold town hall meetings with the General Assembly today, tomorrow and Thursday. They will each pitch their credentials and answer questions in a two-hour session.
On the surface, it is a shift towards democratization of a secretive process controlled by the five veto powers.
But there is no requirement for the five to pay attention to the popularity of candidates with the General Assembly, and the winner could still be selected in a backroom Security Council deal as has been the case for seven decades.
When asked if the meetings could have any influence over the veto-power countries, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: “It might.”
“For us it’s important to hear what others think, and I’m sure they will not be shying away (from) telling us who they like, so it’s going to be an interesting process,” said Churkin.
But there will be no vote or informal polls by the General Assembly to signal to the Security Council who the favored candidates might be.
