The United Nations Security Council held a second informal straw poll to gauge the popularity of candidates seeking to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will complete his second five-year term at the end of the year. Eight candidates are currently vying for the position against a backdrop of deep divisions within the organisation.
The United Nations Security Council holds an emergency meeting on the Ukraine-Russia war at UN Headquarters in New York, on July 27, 2026. © Leonardo Munoz, AFP
The United Nations‘ most powerful body, the Security Council, met Friday to hold another straw poll to gauge the popularity of a growing field of contenders to lead the embattled organisation.
Guyanese ex-foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett narrowly led the second round, a diplomatic source and specialist media said Friday.
Costa Rica‘s Rebeca Grynspan was the front-runner last month when the 15-member Security Council held a first informal vote, behind closed doors and by secret ballot.
She dipped slightly to second place, while Argentina‘s Rafael Mariano Grossi, the current head of the UN nuclear watchdog, came in third, according to the diplomatic source and specialist publication Pass Blue.
Chile‘s Michelle Bachelet is also a candidate, alongside Ecuador‘s Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Uganda‘s Olara Otunnu and Senegal‘s Macky Sall.
After the first round concluded, Ecuador‘s Ivonne A-Baki threw her hat into the race to succeed Antonio Guterres, who will complete his second five-year term on December 31, 2026.
Even if one candidate gets the required nine votes on the 15-member Security Council – which chooses the future UN chief before submitting the name for approval by the General Assembly – that candidate must also avoid a veto from one of the council’s five permanent members.
Here is a look at the eight contenders:
Rebeca Grynspan
Grynspan – Costa Rica‘s former vice president – leads UNCTAD, the UN’s trade and development body, but took leave from her duties to campaign for the top UN post.
File photo: Former vice president Rebeca Grynspan gives a news conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, October 8, 2025. © Jose Diaz, AP
In 2022, she pulled off a diplomatic feat by brokering the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Moscow and Kyiv to allow grain exports following Russia’s invasion.
The 70-year-old plays up her personal story as the daughter of Jewish parents who she says “barely survived” the Holocaust before emigrating to Costa Rica.
She has lamented that the UN has become what she calls a “risk-conservative organization”.
A Chilean socialist brutally tortured by the regime of Augusto Pinochet, Bachelet became her country’s first woman president in 2006.
She went on to be the UN rights chief, a sensitive role in which she alienated some countries – especially China, after her reporting on Beijing‘s alleged abuses of the country’s Uighur minority group.
Michelle Bachelet Jeria speaks with the media after attending a dialogue with delegations at UN headquarters in New York City on April 21, 2026. © Eduardo Munoz, Reuters
Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet hopes world is ‘finally ready’ for a female UN chief
Bachelet, 74, has said the UN secretary-general should have the “moral voice” to lead, even under pressure from major powers.
She is backed by Mexico and Brazil – but Chile withdrew its support after far-right President Jose Antonio Kast took office. The United States has criticised her, especially on her support for abortion rights.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa
Espinosa, a former foreign minister of Ecuador, has called the UN the only universal platform for handling humanity’s common challenges, but also wants deeper reform of the world body.
Latin American and Caribbean candidate for UN secretary-general, Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa, attends a meeting to discuss proposals in Montevideo, Uruguay, Monday, August 3, 2026. © Matilde Campodonico, AP Photo
The 61-year-old, a previous president of the UN General Assembly, has suggested creating an “early warning” system to detect and flag signs of impending conflict.
Espinosa’s candidacy has been backed by Antigua and Barbuda, but not her own country.
The 65-year-old Grossi, an Argentine career diplomat, has led the International Atomic Energy Agency since 2019, propelling him into the middle of the battle over Iran‘s nuclear program as well as the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General, greets attendees during a dialogue with delegations while candidates for the position of new United Nations Secretary General are interviewed at UN headquarters in New York City, April 21, 2026. © Eduardo Munoz, Reuters
He did not step down from his current post to campaign for secretary-general, saying it would be a “dereliction of duty”.
Some observers say he’s been more strident in pushing for UN reform and believes the UN secretary-general should take a more hands-on approach.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett
Rodrigues-Birkett, the 52-year-old former foreign minister of Guyana, is currently her country’s ambassador to the UN.
Guyana UN Ambassador and current Security Council President Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett addresses a United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday, June 30, 2025. © Richard Drew, AP
She has said the United Nations needs to restore its “credibility” on the global stage.
“The UN is judged through the peace and security lens. But the UN is much wider than that and it’s delivering in many, many areas – in development, in human rights,” she said.
Ivonne A-Baki
Ivonne A-Baki vowed to make the UN great again t as she campaignes for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations at UN headquarters in New York . The Lebanese government is backing her for the position.File photo
A-Baki, 75, is an Ecuadoran diplomat and politician who represented Quito as ambassador to Washington where she was seen as forging close ties with US President Donald Trump.
Nominated by Tonga, A-Baki has strong Gulf connections having served as Ecuador’s ambassador to Qatar.
A-Baki, born to Lebanese parents, was instrumental in brokering dialogue between Ecuador and Peru following their brief 1995 border war.
“I have lived through the ravages of war,” she wrote on social media. “I stand ready to help renew the UN Charter’s foundational promise: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Sall, 64, is the current chair of the African Union.
The former Senegalese president has stressed the link between peace and development.
File photo: Senegal President Macky Sall poses before an interview with The Associated Press at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, February 9 , 2024. © Sylvain Cherkaoui, AP
Proposed by Burundi, Sall finally got the backing of his own country in July.
Olara Otunnu
Otunnu, 75, served as UN under-secretary general and special representative for children and armed conflict from 1997 to 2005 under then UN chief Kofi Annan.
He also served as Uganda’s UN envoy, and as his country’s foreign minister for a brief period.
In this photo provided by the Uganda Media Center, Ambassador Olara Otunnu, Uganda’s candidate for UN secretary-general, poses for a photo in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Uganda Media Center via AP
Otunnu stood as the presidential candidate for the opposition Uganda People’s Congress in the 2011 election, losing to longtime leader Yoweri Museveni, in office since 1986.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
