Former PM of Portugal to be UN’s next chief

Portugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was poised to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations following a decisive straw poll by the Security Council on Wednesday.

Mr Guterres, who served as Prime Minister from 1995 to 2002 and was the UN’s refugee chief for 10 years, won backing from 12 of the 15 council members — most importantly from four of the five veto-holding powers.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin emerged from the council chamber along with the 14 other ambassadors to declare that Mr Guterres was the “clear favourite” to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the world’s diplomat-in-chief.

Mr Churkin announced that a formal vote by the council will take place on Thursday to confirm the choice of Mr Guterres, adding that he expected the selection to be “by acclamation.” A fifth veto power, who was not identified, expressed “no opinion” during the secret ballot, clearing the way for the 67-year-old Socialist politician to become the new UN chief. “We wish Mr Guterres well in discharging his duties as the Secretary General of the UN in the next five years,” Mr Churkin said.

During Wednesday’s straw poll, veto-holders Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States used color-coded ballots to indicate for the first time whether they intended to block a candidate.

The 67-year-old Guterres, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 2002, had held the number-one spot in the previous five informal votes by the Security Council.

Once he is formally endorsed by the Security Council, he will be presented to the General Assembly for it to approve his candidacy. Guterres, who will be the first former head of government to lead the world body, has pledged to revamp the United Nations to bolster its peacemaking efforts and promote human rights.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the choice of Guterres was “good news for the United Nations” while British envoy Matthew Rycroft said he will make a “very strong, effective secretary-general”.