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UN straw poll sees women candidates drop to bottom while Guterres still leads

Xinhua, September 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The fourth straw poll in the UN Security Council to find a candidate to replace retiring UN chief Ban Ki-moon showed on Friday no great change in the top rankings from previous tallies, but all five of the women sank into the lowest rakings of the 10 announced candidates.

Portugal's Antonio Guterres, former head of the UN refugee agency, was still on top, with 10 "Encourage" votes, five "Discourage" ballots and no one casting a "No opinion," according to diplomatic sources.

Slovak Republic Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak remained in second place with a tally of 10-4-1.

Former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic of Serbia, also a former president of the UN General Assembly, came in a clear third this time at 9-4-2, the sources said. At the last straw poll held on Aug. 29, he shared third ranking with Irina Bokova, head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) who slipped to a fifth place tie this time around, leading the five women at the bottom of the list.

Srgjan Kerim, also a former president of the General Assembly and a former foreign minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, came up to fourth place at 8-7-0.

The former president of Slovenia, and a former UN assistant secretary-general, Danilo Turk, tied with Bokova for the number of 5 encourage ballots but had 6 discourage and 2 no opinions to her 5 discourage and 3 no opinions.

Argentina's Susanna Malcorra, Ban's former chef d'cabinet was sixth, followed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, currently head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Christina Figuers, former executive secretary of the UN Climate Change convention in Paris, and finally Moldovas's Natalia Gherman who served the last three years as foreign minister.

The informal, secret straw polls are held to get a reading on how candidates are faring. But even though they are held behind closed doors in the Security Council chambers, the results are almost immediately, and widely, leaked by diplomats who want a more transparent process in choosing the next secretary-general, whose term starts on Jan. 1, 2017.

There had been a push for a woman to serve as the next UN chief as well as a push from Eastern European states for winning candidates, but while diplomats in the 15-nation Security Council said they welcomed such diversity they also say they insist on getting the best possible candidate regardless of gender or geo-political region.

The next straw poll is slated on Sept. 26, a UN spokesman said. Endit