Grynspan Leads UN Chief Poll but Faces Permanent-Member Opposition

Rebeca Grynspan led the latest informal poll for the next United Nations secretary-general, but two of the Security Council’s five permanent members opposed her, leaving her short of the support needed for a recommendation, according to people familiar with the private ballot. The October 16 poll gave Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica, nine “encourage” votes, five “discourage” votes and one “no opinion” vote. Two of the five negative votes came from permanent members, diplomats or people close to the process said. The ballot did not identify which governments cast them. The poll was the first to use colored ballots to distinguish votes cast by the five permanent members from those of the council’s 10 elected members. The system indicates whether a permanent member opposes a candidate, but does not reveal the individual voter. All seven candidates received at least one discourage vote from a permanent member, a diplomat said. To recommend a candidate, the 15-member Security Council must record at least nine positive votes and no discourage vote from any of its five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. A council recommendation...