Senior United Arab Emirates diplomat Lana Nusseibeh entered the race to become the next United Nations secretary-general on Wednesday, injecting a prominent Middle Eastern candidate into a contest that has struggled to produce a consensus choice among the Security Council's most powerful members, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

The UAE formally nominated Nusseibeh, its minister of state for foreign affairs, with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan submitting the nomination in a letter to the presidents of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, according to the UAE's official WAM news agency.

Source: WAM via Virgin Radio Dubai

"It's clear that today we need a secretary-general that can recommit to the future of multilateralism and the future of the United Nations as a problem-solver rather than as a spectator to the world's crises," Nusseibeh, 48, told Reuters shortly before going public with her candidacy.

In a separate statement reported by AFP, she said: "I am standing to be Secretary-General because I believe this is a moment to act with greater urgency: to act earlier, bring people together across difference, and drive the work forward until it produces concrete results."

Source: AFP via The Peninsula Times

Why the race was stuck

Nusseibeh is a late entrant. In the latest informal Security Council straw poll last week, every candidate received at least two opposing votes from the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — each of which can effectively veto a candidate. Former Costa Rican vice-president Rebeca Grynspan had led the straw polls as the narrow frontrunner, sources told Reuters, and Senegal's Macky Sall subsequently dropped out, AFP reported.

Also in the race, according to AFP, are Guyana's former foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Argentina's Rafael Grossi, who heads the UN nuclear watchdog, Ecuador's Ivonne A-Baki and Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and Uganda's Olara Otunnu. Council members are negotiating over whether to hold another poll this Friday or at a later stage, Reuters reported.

A decade in New York

Nusseibeh served as the UAE's permanent representative to the UN from 2013 to 2024 — the first woman in that position — and led the UAE's successful campaign for election to the Security Council, where she twice served as council president during the UAE's 2022-2023 term. WAM noted her work on peace and security, humanitarian action and multilateral reform, including securing the adoption of Resolution 2720 to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza.

Under the UN Charter, the secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly following a recommendation from the Security Council. The successful candidate will succeed Antonio Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on December 31, 2026, and will lead the organisation from January 2027.