Former Senegalese President Macky Sall has withdrawn from the race to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, a day after an informal poll by the UN Security Council failed to produce a clear favourite.
Sall announced his decision in a statement shared on social media on Saturday, saying he had taken note of the poll results and hoped to help the council reach a consensus on a candidate for the top UN position.
“I hoped to contribute now the emergence of a consensus candidate within the Security Council,” he said.
The former Senegalese leader also noted that the results of the different rounds of voting appeared to favour a candidate from the Latin America and Caribbean region, possibly a woman.
Sall was among seven candidates seeking to succeed the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, whose tenure is due to end in 2026.
A UN diplomat said Friday that all seven hopefuls had received a vote of “discourage,” effectively a veto, from a permanent UN Security Council member in anonymous informal polling.
Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan — who has been among the frontrunners in five previous polls — received the most “encourage” votes, but also got five “discourage” votes, including two from permanent members of the 15-country council.
US media reports suggest Washington opposes all seven contenders.
Among those considered by diplomats to be potential entrants are Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed “Board of Peace,” and the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs Lana Nusseibeh.
Turkey’s Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has also had his name floated.
The other candidates are Guyanese ex-foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, who heads the UN nuclear watchdog, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki and Maria Fernanda Espinosa and Uganda’s Olara Otunnu.
The outgoing secretary-general, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, ends his second five-year term on December 31.
Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.
AFP
