Guyana's Rodrigues-Birkett leads second UN Secretary-General straw poll

Guyana's former foreign minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, has emerged as the narrow frontrunner in the second informal straw poll for the position of United Nations Secretary-General, according to diplomatic sources and unofficial tabulations. The vote, conducted by the 15-member Security Council on Friday, saw Rodrigues-Birkett receive eight "encourage" votes, placing her ahead of Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan, who had led the first poll in July.

The results, which are confidential but were leaked, show a shift in the race to succeed outgoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second five-year term concludes on December 31, 2026. Rodrigues-Birkett's tally of eight encourage votes, three discourage votes, and four no-opinion votes places her just one vote short of the nine required for a formal recommendation to the General Assembly. However, she must also avoid a veto from any of the five permanent, veto-wielding members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Grynspan, a former Vice President of Costa Rica and head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, saw her support dip from ten encourage votes in the first round to seven. She...