United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2016

United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2016

31 December 2016

UN Secretary-General before election Ban Ki-moon Elected UN Secretary-General TBD

An election is due to be held in 2016 to select the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, to succeed Ban Ki-moon, whose term will conclude on 31 December 2016.

Background

There are few rules governing the selection of the Secretary-General. The only guiding text is Article 97 of the United Nations Charter, which states that “The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.” As a result, the selection is subject to the veto of any of the five permanent members of the Security Council.^[1] In 1946, the General Assembly adopted a resolution stating that it was “desirable for the Security Council to proffer one candidate only for the consideration of the General Assembly, and for debate on the nomination in the General Assembly to be avoided.”^[2]

The Charter's minimal language has since been supplemented by other procedural rules and accepted practices. Traditionally, candidates from the Permanent Five members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are not considered for the position of Secretary-General to avoid further concentration of power within the UN. This is a matter of precedent and convention, rather than a written rule.

While former officeholders represent a wide range of countries, there has never been a female Secretary-General.^[3] It is noteworthy that there are more female candidates than ever before, including several from outside Eastern Europe.^[4]

Because of the informal regional rotation scheme, many commentators speculate that the next UN Secretary-General will come from the Eastern European Group, as that region has never produced a Secretary-General. However, tensions between Russia and Western permanent members over the conflict in Ukraine has raised the possibility of deadlock over an Eastern European nominee, meaning that candidates from other regions (particularly non-European members of the Western European and Others Group and Latin America) are being seriously considered.

Criticism of process

The absence of a formal campaign has, as in past years, led to much speculation as to potential candidates, only a few of whom have actually been endorsed by their national governments. There has been growing criticism of the opacity of the process, with increased calls by NGOs such as the 1 for 7 Billion campaign and The Elders, as well as some states, for a more formal selection and appointment process in which candidates engage in a more public discussion of their views and platforms. Writing in Singapore's Straits Times, Simon Chesterman has argued that, for an organisation as important as the UN, "having its leader chosen by the lowest common denominator of what the P5 [(China, France, Russia, UK, U.S.)] finds acceptable is not good enough."^[5]

More open process

The Security Council and General Assembly took steps to make the selection process more transparent and open in 2016 and sent a letter to member states asking them to nominate candidates for the position.^[6] In practice, previous secretaries-general were chosen behind closed doors by the Security Council and then had their names submitted to General Assembly for ratification. No candidate has ever been rejected by the General Assembly.

General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft advocates the General Assembly selecting a candidate and he held public meetings from 12 to 14 April 2016 where Assembly members could question candidates.^[7][8]

Official candidates

Official candidates[8]
Image	Name	Prior experience	Nominated by	Nomination date	Regional group	Endorsements
	Bokova, IrinaIrina Bokova	Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria (1996.11–1997.2) Director-General of UNESCO (2009–present)	Bulgaria	11 February 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Bulgaria
	Clark, HelenHelen Clark	Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999.12–2008.11) Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (2009–present)	New Zealand	5 April 2016	Western European and Others Group (WEOG)	New Zealand
	Gherman, NataliaNatalia Gherman	Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova (2013.5–2016.1) Acting Prime Minister of Moldova (2015)	Moldova	19 February 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Moldova
	Guterres, AntónioAntónio Guterres	Prime Minister of Portugal (1995.10–2002.4) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2005–2015)	Portugal	29 February 2016	Western European and Others Group (WEOG)	Portugal,  France,[9]  Timor-Leste[10]
	Jeremić, VukVuk Jeremić	Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia (2007.5–2012.7) President of the United Nations General Assembly (2012–2013)	Serbia	12 April 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Serbia
	Kerim, SrgjanSrgjan Kerim	Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia (2000.11–2001.5) President of the United Nations General Assembly (2007–2008)	Macedonia	30 December 2015	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Macedonia
	Lukšić, IgorIgor Lukšić	Prime Minister of Montenegro (2010.12–2012.12) Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro (2012–present)	Montenegro	15 January 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Montenegro
	Pusić, VesnaVesna Pusić	Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia (2011.12–2016.1)	Croatia	14 January 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Croatia
	Türk, DaniloDanilo Türk	Slovenian Ambassador to the United Nations (1991–2000) Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for Political Affairs (2000–2005) President of Slovenia (2007.12–2012.12)	Slovenia	9 February 2016	Eastern European Group (EEG)	Slovenia

Potential candidates named in the press and elsewhere

Eastern European Group

• János Áder, President of Hungary (2012–present)^[11]
• Mircea Geoană, former Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000–2004)^[12]
• Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for the Budget and Human Resources (2014–present) and former European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response (2010–2014)^[13][14]
• Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania (2009–present) and former European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget (2004–2009)^[13]
• Ján Kubiš, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (2015–present), former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (2011–2014), former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2009–2011), former Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006–2009), former Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (1999–2005), former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (1998–1999) and former Slovak Ambassador to the United Nations Office at Geneva (1993–1994)^[13]
• Miroslav Lajčák, Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009–2010; 2012–present) and former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007–2009)^[13][15]

Latin American and Caribbean Group

• Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile (2006–2010; 2014–present), former Executive Director of UN Women (2010–2013) and former President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations (2008–2009)^[13]
• Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (2014–present) and former Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (2010–2014)^[13]
• María Ángela Holguín, Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010–present) and former Ambassador to the United Nations (2004–2006)^[13]
• Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (2008–present)^[13]
• Susana Malcorra, Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs (2015–present), former Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Executive Office (2012–2015) and former Undersecretary General of the United Nations for Field Support (2008–2012) ^[16]
• Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil (2011–present)^[13]

Western European and Others Group

• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany (2005–present)^[17]
• Federica Mogherini, European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2014–present) and former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014)^[18]
• Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia (2007–2010; 2013) and former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (2010–2012)^[19]
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International, former Prime Minister of Denmark (2011–2015)^[20]

See also

• United Nations General Assembly
• United Nations Security Council

References

1. Simon Chesterman, "Introduction", in Simon Chesterman (ed), Secretary or General? The UN Secretary-General in World Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 7.
2. General Assembly resolution 11(I) (1946).
3. "UN Secretary-General". Unelections.org. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
4. The next UN secretary-general: 7 women to consider, Devex, 5 January 2016.
5. Simon Chesterman, "Who Wants to Rule the World", Straits Times, 27 June 2015.
6. "For first time in history, selection of next UN Secretary-General will include input from all Member States", UN News Centre, 15 December 2015.
7. "U.N. pledges to remove secrecy around selection process for next secretary-general". Toronto Star. December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
8. "Procedure of Selecting and Appointing the next UN Secretary-General". UN. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
9. , RTP, 18 April 2016.
10. , Expresso, 21 April 2016.
11. József Spirk. "Áder János az ENSZ-főtitkári posztra hajt". Index.hu. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
12. "The Politics of UN Leadership". Project Syndicate. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
13. "The Race for U.N. Secretary-General Is Rigged". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
14. "Georgieva won’t run for UN Secretary General". Euractiv. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
15. Lubomir Makky, Mark Northrop. "Slovak diplomats eye top UN job". Spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
16. http://www.womansg.org/#!latin-america-and-carribean-group/wvjo1
17. "Angela Merkel 'does not want to complete full term as German chancellor'". The Telegraph. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
18. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/the-push-for-a-woman-to-run-the-un.html?_r=0
19. "Rudd's long plot to replace Ban Ki-moon". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
20. http://www.bt.dk/politik/for-og-imod-saadan-kan-thorning-lande-topjob-i-fn

Further reading

• Simon Chesterman, "The Secretary-General We Deserve?", Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, Vol. 21, No. 4 (2015), pp. 505–513.