Rebeca Grynspan expands advantage in informal voting for UN leader

Grynspan, former Vice-President of Costa Rica and Head of the United Nations Agency for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), received ten votes in favour, three against and two “without an opinion”, according to the specialised portal PassBlue, which represents an improvement of one point in the votes in favour and a reduction of two in the votes against the previous round.

In this fourth round of non-binding voting, known as “informal vote”, the members of the Security Council expressed their opinion confidentially, so it is not possible to know if any of the negative votes correspond to one of the five permanent members of the body – USA, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom – whose veto would leave Grynspan out of the race.

The second position was again occupied by Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, present ambassador of Guyana to the United Nations, who received eight votes in favour, six against and one “no opinion”, the same result of the previous vote.

The Argentine Rafael Grossi received eight positive votes, while seven members voted against.

The two African candidates received five positive votes: Ugandan Olara Otunnu received eight votes against and two without an opinion, while Senegalese Macky Sall obtained nine votes against and one without an opinion.

The two Ecuadorian candidates close the vote: María Fernanda Espinosa, with three votes in favour, ten against and two without opinion; Ivonne Baki, with one vote in favour, eleven against and three without opinion.

This is the first time that Baki has received support in the three voting rounds in which he participated.

Chilean Michelle Bachelet, who gave up the race on September 19 after receiving 11 votes against the day before, no longer participated in today's vote.

This non-binding vote presents an overview very similar to the previous ones, reflecting the deadlock in the Security Council.

After this round, the Member States will hold another type of vote, in which the five largest powers will vote in a different colour bulletin than the other ten.

That method will reveal who the powers are excluding from the dispute.

Four women and three men are currently in the race to succeed the 77-year-old Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres, who will conclude his second five-year term on 31 December.

Other candidates may still present themselves.

This process takes place at a time when the UN is going through one of the most difficult periods in its history, facing a proliferation of conflicts, persistent divisions in the Security Council and serious financial difficulties.