Security Council straw poll of next UN chief set for July 21

The UN Security Council will hold the first of its three secret, non-binding straw polls on selection of the next UN secretary-general on July 21, the panel's president announced here Friday.

Ambassador Koro Bessho of Japan, who assumed the rotating Security Council president for July on Friday, announced the date during a briefing with reporters on the program of work for the panel during July. No dates were set for the second and third straw polls.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will retire on Dec. 31 after serving two five-year terms and diplomats are working to make selection of his successor more transparent.

"There is an agreement that we would like to move the process along as expeditiously as possible so that we can have a decision at an early date which will make it possible for the chosen candidate to prepare to be the (next) secretary-general," Bessho said. "As far as the date for a second straw poll is concerned, it is not decided at this moment."

"The straw poll is done so that the candidates themselves and the countries who are recommending the candidates can make up their minds as to how to proceed from there," he said. "The same for the Security Council members. They need to consider the results of the straw poll and to think about the next step. Some countries will say that they would need some time to consider between the first poll and second poll and third poll."

It is up to the 15-member Security Council to recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly to approve appointment of a secretary-general.

Already there are 11 announced candidates vying to succeed Ban on Jan. 1, 2017.

President Mogens Lykketoft of the UN General Assembly, in a bid to make the choice of secretary-general more transparent, invited announced candidates to appear at hearings before the assembly earlier this year to make mission statements and undergo a round of questions.
Source;xinhua