An informal poll by the United Nations Security Council on Friday showed former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan extended her lead as frontrunner in the race to become the 10th UN secretary-general, Reuters reported, citing two people close to the process. Straw-poll tallies are never officially published by the UN, so the figures rest on reporting from diplomats and people briefed on the closed-door ballots.
Source: Reuters
Grynspan received 11 votes in favour and 4 against on the 15-member council, Reuters reported — her strongest showing in the seven closed-door ballots held in recent months to choose a successor to Antonio Guterres, who finishes his second five-year term this year. The new secretary-general is due to take office on January 1, 2027.
Friday's ballot was a new development in a race Awaaz Punjab has been tracking through the earlier straw polls: in the sixth, colour-coded poll on October 16, Grynspan led with 9 encourage votes against 5 discourage and 1 no opinion, but two of the discourages came from permanent members — the obstacle her candidacy still has to clear. Friday's 11 favourable votes are two more than she won in that round.
Securing the Council's recommendation requires at least 9 positive votes and no 'discourage' votes from the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. Friday's ballot was not coded in a way that would allow anyone to decipher how the permanent five voted, Reuters reported, so it remains unknown whether any of Grynspan's four opposing votes came from a veto-holding member.
Friday also marked the first poll since United Arab Emirates diplomat Lana Nusseibeh, a former ambassador to the UN, entered the race. She received 7 votes in favour, 6 against and 2 marked as 'no opinion', Reuters reported — a divided first showing that leaves her short of the 9-vote threshold for now.
PassBlue, the independent publication that has tracked every straw poll in this race from its own diplomat sourcing since the first ballot on July 30, has reported Grynspan leading most rounds, including 10 encourage votes in the first poll and 9 in the fifth poll on October 7 — a record that makes Friday's 11 her clearest lead yet, though earlier rounds also showed that support can swing sharply between ballots.
Source: PassBlue
Whoever wins will have to tackle multiple crises, including several wars, cutbacks in American contributions to the UN, and the 193-member body's declining political relevance as Washington has pulled out of dozens of its agencies, Reuters noted. The Council's recommendation must still be approved by the General Assembly before a successor takes office.
The straw polls are informal soundings, not a final vote. Diplomats use them to narrow the field before the Council makes a formal recommendation to the General Assembly. Grynspan's task now is to convert a clear lead among the 15 members into certainty that none of the five permanent members will block her.