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2nd LD Writethru: Luksic pulls out of race for UN chief

Xinhua, August 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Igor Luksic of Montenegro decided to quit the race for the position of the next UN secretary-general, cutting to 10 the total number of candidates vying to be the world's top diplomat, the president of the UN General Assembly said here Tuesday.

Mongens Lykketoft, the president of the 70th session of the 193-member General Assembly, sent a letter from the Permanent Mission of Montenegro to the United Nations to all UN member states, to announce the withdrawal of Luksic, who is the foreign minister of Montenegro.

The message from Montenegro's Mission, including a letter from Luksic himself, was also sent to Ramlan Bih Ibrahim, the Malaysian UN ambassador who holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for August.

The 15-nation UN council has the final say over who can succeed current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, 2017. Ban will end his second five-year term on Dec. 31.

"I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that I have decided to withdraw my nomination for the position of the secretary-general of the UN," Luksic said in his signed letter.

Luksic came in the last of the second round of the informal poll of the Security Council, known as the straw poll. The Security Council is scheduled to have a third round on Aug. 29.

"In addition for the sake of equal ownership of all the regions the UN, I hope the Eastern European argument will prevail when it comes to the final decision," Luksic said.

The Eastern European argument is in line with the UN tradition -- the job of the UN secretary-general rotates among different regions.

So far, African, Asia, Europe and Latin America have all held the post of the UN chief.

The Eastern European countries, plus Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, argue that it is their turn now to have a UN secretary-general as they have never had one in the 71-year history of the world body.

The Aug. 29 straw poll will be the third informal poll by the Security Council behind closed doors since July 21. The council did not reveal the result of each round of voting, but the outcome was leaked to the press and diplomats here.

The council members will vote "encourage," "discourage" or "no opinion" about the 10 candidates.

In early August, former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic became the first of the 12 contenders to leave the race.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Gutterres, former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Irina Bokova, the director general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Slovenia's former President Danilo Turk are among the 10 candidates.

Under the UN Charter, the UN secretary-general shall be appointed by the UN General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

In practice, the Security Council, particularly its five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.

Before the final decision comes out, several rounds of straw polls will be held among the 15 Security Council members. Endi