Spotlight: After two rounds voting, Portugal's former PM remains on top of list for next UN chief candidates

Antonio Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal, held his lead on Friday in a second round of unofficial voting conducted by the Security Council on the standings of candidates for the post of the next UN secretary-general.

Guterres, also the former UN high commissioner for refugees, garnered 11 "encourage" votes, two "discourage" votes and two "no opinion" from the 15-nation council in its second secret straw poll on candidate selection, diplomatic sources said.

Compared with the council's first balloting, despite losing one "encourage" vote and picking up two "discourage," Guterres remains on top of the list of all the candidates.

Currently, 11 candidates are still running for the campaign to become the world's top diplomat. Former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic announced her withdrawal from the campaign on Thursday after she got the lowest score in the first round of voting.

Pusic has said the first poll showed her chances for the position were slim, and the post would likely to go to someone who has already worked or works with the UN.

This point of view has been somehow reflected in the leaking results of the second round of voting, with the only three candidates who don't have UN experiences receiving less "encourage" votes than the others.

The three candidates came last are Natalia Gherman, former foreign minister of Moldova with three "encourage" votes, Igor Luksic, Montenegro's former prime minister with two "encourage" votes, and Miroslav Lajcak, foreign minister of Slovakia with two "encourage" votes.

Under the UN Charter, the UN secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, the Security Council, particularly its five permanent members, will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.

Straw polls, conducted by the Security Council behind closed doors, are unofficial voting which aim to inform the candidates of where they stand in the race and also encourage candidates who don't do well to drop out of the race.

POLL RANKING CHANGES IN SECOND ROUND

In the second round, Serbia's former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic moved up from fourth place to second place with eight "encourage" and four "discourage" , unseating Slovenia's former President Danilo Turk who dropped to fourth with seven "courage" and five "discourage."

Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra received eight "encourage" and six "discourage", making a third place in the second round, up markedly from an 8th place ranking last time.

Bulgaria's Irina Bokova, chief of the UN cultural agency UNESCO, was in fifth place this time with seven "encourage" and seven "discourage", down from the fourth place in the first round.

The Security Council -- the UN' s most powerful body -- has made no official announcement of the voting results. Analysts said the council is still under negotiations for reaching consensus on a single candidate.

The incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is going to conclude his term at the end of 2016. The council's decision to select the top leader of the world organization shall come later in the fall.

At present, there has been a widespread call from UN member states to select a woman as the world's top civil servant; it is also expected that the next secretary-general shall come from Eastern Europe due to an unwritten rule of regional rotation in UN chief selection.

President of UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft, who has been trying to make the selection process as much transparent and inclusive as possible, said the person who is going to lead the UN shall be a moral authority and is capable of leading the organization with political and diplomatic skills. Endit