Michelle Bachelet withdraws application for UN Secretary-General

“Hoje announce that i decided not to continue with the UN Secretary-General’s application.”, said in a video released in his Instagram account the former Chilean President (2006-2010 and 2014-2018).

Bachelet, who guaranteed not to regret having applied to succeed António Guterres in the leadership of the UN, thanked “very especially” to the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, for having supported their candidacy, “from day one, with generosity and conviction.”.

“ Some will believe that this was not the time for an application like the one I wanted to present. When the winds blow strong against principles such as multilateralism, international law, which is permanently violated, against the existence of climate change, which some deny despite scientific evidence,” said the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Bachetet stressed that in his opinion it was yes “time to raise your voice for these principles”, who said they were “the proud banner” of their candidacy.

She also believes that she has contributed “to launching the global debate so that the next Secretary-General is a woman from Latin America”.

The former Chilean President acknowledged a few days ago that she already knew she would not be elected Secretary-General and said that her resignation from the candidacy could be imminent.

The resignation of the former UN director Women happen after the results of the last non-binding votes at the UN last Friday, where they were in the penultimate position.

The Costa Rican Rebecca Grynspan was again the most voted candidate for the post in that third informal vote of the Security Council, then by Guyana diplomat Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkettaccording to diplomatic sources.

They followed the Ugandan Olara Otunnu, the current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Argentinean Rafael Grossiand the former senegalese president Macky Sall.

Still by order of number of votes, emerged the Ecuadorian María Fernanda Espinosa and then the chilean Michelle Bachelet.

To win the selection process, which may take weeks, a candidate will have to obtain the consent of at least nine countries, avoiding the veto of the five permanent members of the Security Council (United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom).

The name will then be submitted to the General Assembly, which in practice follows the nomination of the candidate recommended by the Security Council.