Arab News | Costa Rica’s Grynspan tops third informal poll for UN chief: diplomat

THE UNITED NATIONS, United States: Rebeca Grynspan narrowly topped the third indicative poll of the UN’s most powerful body, the Security Council, on Friday as it chooses the embattled organization’s next leader, according to a diplomatic source.

Grynspan — Costa Rica’s former vice president who has taken leave from her post at the UN trade and development body (UNCTAD) to campaign for secretary-general — also came top in the first secret straw poll.

Guyanese ex-foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett pulled ahead in the second reckoning of the 15-member Council.

Several council members have declared their desire for the embattled UN to have its first woman leader when Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concludes his term at the end of December.

Grynspan won nine “encourage” votes, but still faced a groundswell of opposition receiving five votes of “discourage,” and one of “no opinion,” the diplomatic source said, confirming specialist media reports.

Just one vote of “discourage” from a veto-holding permanent member of the Council — Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States — would scupper a candidate’s chances.

Rodrigues-Birkett received eight votes of encouragement, six of discouragement and single vote of no opinion, the source added, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Also in the race are the current head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, Macky Sall of Senegal, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki, Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa and Uganda’s Olara Otunnu.

There is speculation that a compromise candidate could be parachuted into the process at the behest of the Council’s powerful five permanent members.

“If that happens in a way that’s not transparent… then we have a problem,” said one diplomat who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Once a candidate clears the Security Council’s hurdles, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.

Without singling out a favorite, a US State Department official said Thursday that candidates must get the UN “back to basics and publicly commit to the changes we require.”

“Any new secretary-general must return the UN to its primary purpose of maintaining peace and security in the world, rather than the absurd, politicized, woke ideology that has undermined the institution’s effectiveness,” the official said.

After an unspecified number of votes, the ballots of the Council’s five permanent members will have a different color, making it possible to identify potential vetoes, without knowing which country blackballed any given candidate.

International Crisis Group’s Daniel Forti said it was thought there would be another straw poll at the end of the UN’s signature high-level week due to get underway Tuesday, though that is unconfirmed.