The UN secretary-general race gained an eighth candidate on Friday, Oct. 30, when Türkiye nominated Feridun Sinirlioglu, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), hours after the Security Council’s seventh informal straw poll again failed to produce a consensus, PassBlue reported. Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica kept the lead.
Türkiye’s UN ambassador, Ahmet Yildiz, put forward the nomination in a letter to the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, according to Anadolu Agency. With António Guterres’ second term ending Dec. 31, the Council has about nine weeks to agree on a name to recommend to the General Assembly.
Who is Feridun Sinirlioglu?
Sinirlioglu, a career diplomat, has led the OSCE since December 2024. He served briefly as Türkiye’s foreign minister in 2015, was undersecretary of the foreign ministry, and was Ankara’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the bid was meant to help break the deadlock. “Our goal is to provide a diplomatic contribution aimed at overcoming the impasse,” Fidan said, according to Anadolu.
His entry cuts against an informal expectation that the next secretary-general should come from Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that has not held the post since Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru left in 1991. On Oct. 27, members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States issued a joint statement asking the Council to respect regional rotation. Five of the seven candidates who were already running come from that region, although Ivonne A-Baki, an Ecuadorian, was nominated by Tonga.
Inside the 7th straw poll of the UN secretary-general race
In the Oct. 30 poll, Council members could mark each candidate “encourage,” “discourage” or “no opinion.” Grynspan, a former Costa Rican vice president and former head of UN Trade and Development, received 11 encourage votes and four discourage votes, according to results seen by PassBlue. Rafael Grossi of Argentina, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was second, followed by Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett of Guyana.
Lana Nusseibeh, nominated by the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 21, took fourth in her first poll with seven encourage, six discourage and two no-opinion votes. Olara Otunnu of Uganda, María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador and A-Baki trailed. The National also reported on the poll. Because the Council used plain, undifferentiated ballots this time, there is no way to tell whether any of the discourage votes came from the five permanent members, which hold vetoes: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
| Candidate | Nominated by | Encourage | Discourage | No opinion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebeca Grynspan | Costa Rica | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| Rafael Grossi | Argentina | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett | Guyana | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| Lana Nusseibeh | UAE | 7 | 6 | 2 |
| Olara Otunnu | Uganda | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| María Fernanda Espinosa | Ecuador | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| Ivonne A-Baki | Tonga | 1 | 14 | 0 |
Source: PassBlue. Sinirlioglu was nominated after this poll. Table: The Boston Report
By a Boston Report calculation, only Grynspan and Grossi cleared the nine-vote threshold a candidate needs, Grynspan’s net score was plus seven and Grossi’s plus five. The margin may be thinner than it looks: if even one of the discourage votes for either came from a permanent member, it would amount to a veto in a formal vote.
How the winner is picked
Under the process described on the UN’s selection page, the Council recommends one candidate by a vote that needs at least nine of 15 members in favor and no veto from a permanent member; the 193-member General Assembly then appoints. Straw polls are informal and can be repeated as often as the Council wants. The field has already thinned: former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet withdrew on Sept. 21 and Senegal’s former president Macky Sall on Oct. 20, according to earlier reporting by PassBlue.
In 2016, the Council needed six straw polls before settling on Guterres. This year has already gone to seven. The Associated Press reported on Türkiye’s late entry. For more on how world powers are maneuvering at multilateral meetings, see our G20 foreign ministers live updates from Atlanta, and our report on the UN peacekeeping exit from Lebanon, another file before the Council this year.
What to watch
The next poll could return to color-coded ballots that show how the permanent members voted, which would reveal whether Grynspan’s lead is veto-proof. Earlier entrants held a public dialogue with member states and a private meeting with Council members before their first poll, as Nusseibeh did on Oct. 27-28. Latin American leaders meet at the Ibero-American summit in Madrid on Nov. 4-5, where the region’s strategy for the race could come up.
Sources
- Anadolu Agency: Türkiye nominates OSCE chief Sinirlioglu as candidate for next UN secretary-general
- Anadolu Agency: Türkiye says Sinirlioglu’s bid aims to overcome impasse
- PassBlue: UAE candidate showed mixed results in latest UN Security Council poll
- The National: UN secretary-general seventh straw poll
- United Nations: Selection and appointment of the secretary-general
- AP: Türkiye nominates Sinirlioglu for UN secretary-general
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