Two women have emerged as favourite to lead the United Nations as Secretary-General from 1 January 2027, when the term of the present incumbent, Antonio Gutteres, expires.
A straw poll of the members of the UN Security Council, held on Thursday, 30 July showed that of the seven candidates, Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Carolyn Rodriguez-Birkett of Guyana received ten and nine positive endorsement by the 15 members UN Security Council
Although the poll and its result are supposed to be secret, the result leaked within minutes, and was carried on world media outlets, such as Reuters. The result was as follows
| Michelle Bachelet | 6 encourage | 5 discourage | 4 no opinion |
| María Fernanda Espinosa | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| Rafael Grossi | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| Rebeca Grynspan | 10 | 1 | 4 |
| Olara Otunnu | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett | 9 | 2 | 4 |
| Macky Sall | 6 | 7 | 2 |
Article 97 of the UN Charter states that the “Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”. Straw polls are informal ballots used to determine the viability of Secretary-General candidates.
The seven current candidates are:
- Michelle Bachelet Jeria (Chile), who was nominated by Brazil, Chile, and Mexico on 2 February, with Chile withdrawing its nomination on 24 March;
- María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador), who was nominated by Antigua and Barbuda on 11 May;
- Rafael Mariano Grossi (Argentina), who was nominated by Argentina on 26 November 2025;
- Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (Costa Rica), who was nominated by Costa Rica on 3 March;
- Olara Otunnu (Uganda), who was nominated by Uganda on 24 July;
- Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett (Guyana), who was nominated by Guyana on 15 June; and
- Macky Sall (Senegal), who was nominated by Burundi on 2 March.
Security Council members agreed on the modalities for the straw polls in May through the negotiation of a non-paper, which has not been made public. Among other things, members apparently decided that attendance will be at the level of permanent representative plus two other delegates for each Council member, except for the President of the Security Council, who will be allowed three additional delegates in light of the presidency’s role in running the straw poll. The modalities provide for the appointment of two tellers to be appointed by the drawing of lots the day before each straw poll. Bahrain and Pakistan were appointed as tellers.
At Thursday's straw poll, there was no difference between the ballots presented to the five permanent members (P5) and the ten elected members (E10). Council members received one ballot per candidate, containing the candidate’s name followed by three options: “encouraged”, “discouraged”, and “no opinion expressed”.
It is ofcourse early days, and the straw poll is just an informal indication of the mood of the UN Security Council, but the strong showwing by the two womencandidates may be an indication that for the first time, the head of the UN can be a women.
commonspace.eu with Reuters (London) Security Council Report (New York) and agencies
