Seven Candidates Remain in Race to Succeed Guterres

Seven candidates remain in the race to succeed United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres after former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet withdrew, leaving the Security Council without an agreed nominee as Guterres’s term approaches its end on December 31, 2026. Guterres is scheduled to leave office after two five-year terms. His successor is due to begin a five-year term on January 1, 2027. The selection remains unresolved, and leaked results from the Council’s latest informal ballot show leading candidates have not secured a decisive level of support. The September 18 straw poll gave Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica who leads UN Trade and Development, nine “encourage” votes. Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Guyana’s permanent representative to the United Nations, received eight. The ballot was secret and nonbinding; its figures have been reported from leaked accounts and do not constitute a final vote or appointment. Bachelet, who served two terms as Chile’s president and later as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, withdrew after the poll. Her departure leaves seven candidates.