The United Nations Security Council is expected to hold another informal poll this month as it selects the next UN secretary-general, the council president said on Monday, while indicating that a decision is still some way off.
Portugal’s Antonio Guterres steps down as head of the world body at the year-end after two five-year terms and a first “straw poll” in the 15-member Council to replace him took place last week.
That showed former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan as a narrow early frontrunner among seven current candidates, followed by former Guyanese Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and then Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Christina Markus Lassen, the UN ambassador of Denmark, which holds the monthly Security Council presidency for August, said it was “aiming for and hoping to schedule” another poll on August 21.
Guterres’ successor faces the task of revitalizing an organization in crisis and declining stature, amid growing pressure to reform what critics say is a bloated, costly bureaucracy and reduce duplication across its agencies.
