Hopes fading for woman United Nation chief

Hopes fading for woman United Nation chief
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Highlights

The 15-nation UN Security Council held the fourth round of the so-called straw polls here on Friday and Guterres continued his lead, getting 12 encourage, two discourage and one no opinion votes. In the last straw poll conducted on August 29, he had garnered 11 encourage and three discourage votes.Guterres, who had served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years, had emerged as the fron

United Nations: Hopes for a woman to lead the UN appear to be fading as Portugal's former premier Antonio Guterres maintained his lead in the fourth round of informal polls to elect the next UN Secretary General, with men occupying the top four positions out of the 10 contenders.

The 15-nation UN Security Council held the fourth round of the so-called straw polls here on Friday and Guterres continued his lead, getting 12 encourage, two discourage and one no opinion votes. In the last straw poll conducted on August 29, he had garnered 11 encourage and three discourage votes.Guterres, who had served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years, had emerged as the front-runner in the first two rounds of informal voting.

Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcák remained on the second spot getting 10 encourage votes, four discourage and one no opinion. He had gained the most in the last round of voting, moving from the 10th position to second. In third place is former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, followed by former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim.

The next poll will be on the September 26, towards the end of the high-level General Debate, when heads of state and government will descend on the world body’s headquarters for the 71st session of the General Assembly.

Apart from increased call from UN member states to make the election process of the world’s top diplomat more transparent, there is a growing chorus for a woman to be elected for the top job. The UN has been headed by a male Secretary General in all of its 70-year history.

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