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.
UNITED NATIONS: 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 U.N. 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 U.N. 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 on
Tuesday, Wednesday 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 U.N. 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 favoured candidates
might be.
"Even the biggest of powers need friends and a majority of their
friends are actually asking for a much more open process where they get
real influence," Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish diplomat who is president
of the General Assembly, said in an interview.HALF OF CANDIDATES ARE WOMEN
Diplomats say that privately Russia has shown no enthusiasm
for the new transparency, and it views the town hall meetings as
irrelevant. Moscow's main interest, they said, is ensuring the U.N.
chief comes from Eastern Europe, in line with an informal tradition of
rotating the post between regions.
The council will likely hold its first "straw poll" - an informal
vote - behind closed doors in July and aims to have a decision by
September so the General Assembly can elect the next U.N. chief in
October.
At least 56 countries, led by Colombia, and several civil
society groups want the world body's first female secretary-general
since its creation at the end of World War Two. Even U.S. President
Barack Obama is being lobbied by a group of senators who want him to
push for a woman.
Half the candidates nominated so far are women: U.N.
cultural organization UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria;
former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic; Moldova's former Foreign
Minister Natalia Gherman; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen
Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Programme.
Also in the race are former Macedonian Foreign Minister
Srgjan Kerim; Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; former Slovenian
President Danilo Turk; and former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
Antonio Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister.
Since the power to authorise military force or sanctions
lies with the Security Council, the U.N. chief has little more than a
bully pulpit. Many diplomats say the veto powers prefer a "secretary"
rather than a "general".
Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan infuriated the United States by
calling the 2003 invasion of Iraq illegal. Some diplomats say this led
the United States to push for someone more pliable and resulted in the
selection of Ban.
Some countries want a "general" this time who can clean up
the U.N. in the wake of U.S. indictments over a bribery scandal and
allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Central African Republic.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
- Reuters
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