03 October 2006
South Korea's foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon has established himself as clear frontrunner in the race for succeeding Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary-general in January. After new straw poll among the 15 member states on the Security Council Ban showed he had the support of all five veto-bearing countries and nine of the 10 elected members. His progress comes amid reports his government has been directing increased aid and other incentives to key countries involved in the nomination. Monday's poll was the fourth by the Security Council, which nominates a candidate for ratification by the 192-member General Assembly.
Ban, 62, emerged as the clear front-runner by winning the previous three, although in each one one country had voted against him. No country opposed his candidacy in Monday's vote, and the color-coding of the ballots showed the one country that abstained was not a permanent member. "It's never over till it's over," warned John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, saying Council members had agreed on an official vote next Monday. But Wang Guangya, China's UN ambassador, said it was now "quite clear" Ban would be picked as new UN chief.
Canada has criticized the selection process for being too secretive, and it circulated proposals that would make the selection more akin to the hiring of a CEO, complete with "head-hunting" and interviews. The General Assembly even capped lengthy negotiations this year on how to amend the process with a resolution reflecting several of Canada's ideas. However, UN Security Council veto powers have rejected the move.
