Former Portuguese PM Portugal's Antonio Guterres Set to Become Next UN Secretary-General

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is set to become the next United Nations secretary-general, after the 15 Security Council members agreed to put his name forward to a formal vote.

Guterres, who was head of the UN's refugee agency for 10 years until 2015, emerged as the Security Council's runaway favorite after the latest in a series of straw polls on Wednesday. 

 

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN and current Security Council president, told reporters that Guterres would face a vote in the Security Council on Thursday.

 

"Today, after our sixth straw poll we have a clear favorite, and his name is Antonio Guterres," he said. 

 

In the latest vote, Guterres received 13 "encourage" votes, no "discourage" votes and two votes of "no opinion." The next closest candidates, Vuk Jeremic of Serbia and Miroslav Lajcak of the Slovak Republic, each received seven "encourage" votes and six "discourage" votes, while Bulgaria's Irina Bokova received seven "encourage" votes and seven "discourage" votes.

 

Guterres, 67, will replace the incumbent secretary-general, South Korea's Ban Ki-moon, whose second five-year term ends on December 31.

 

Credit: CNN news