Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres won the Security Council’s unanimous backing Wednesday to become the next U.N. secretary-general, winning plaudits for his strong leadership but disappointing campaigners for a woman or East European to be the world’s top diplomat for the first time.
The veteran politician and diplomat, who served as the U.N.’s refugee chief until December, topped all six informal polls in the council after his performance in the first-ever question-and-answer sessions in the 193-member General Assembly, which received high marks from almost every diplomat.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the assembly hearings showed that Guterres “was an outstanding candidate . . . who will take the United Nations to the next level in terms of leadership” and will provide “a moral authority at a time when the world is divided on issues, above all like Syria.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, appeared before reporters surrounded by the 14 other council ambassadors after the sixth informal poll of the 10 remaining candidates was held behind closed doors saying: “You are witnessing, I think, a historic scene.”
Churkin then thanked all the candidates saying they displayed “a lot of wisdom, understanding and concern for the fate of the world” and announced: “We have a clear favorite, and his name is Antonio Guterres.”
He said the Security Council would hold a formal vote this morning and expressed hope that the council will recommend Guterres by “acclamation” to the 193-member General Assembly, which must approve a successor to Ban Ki-moon whose second five-year term ends Dec. 31.
By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions. Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the post. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it was their turn. There has also never been a woman secretary-general and more than 50 nations and many others campaigned to elect the first female U.N. chief.
There was disappointment among East Europeans, who fielded many candidates in the race but never united behind one, and among supporters hoping for a woman. Seven of the 13 candidates who entered the race were women.