UNITED NATIONS: Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres maintained his lead in the race to become the next UN secretary general following a fifth straw poll by the Security Council on Monday, diplomats said.

Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova failed to make a strong showing in the informal vote by the 15-member council, paving the way for European Union vice president Kristalina Georgieva to possibly replace her as Sofia’s candidate.

Guterres, who served as UN refugee chief for 10 years and was prime minister from 1995 to 2002, picked up 12 votes of encouragement, two “discourage” votes and one “no opinion”, the same result as the previous informal vote.

It was the fifth time that the 67-year-old has taken the number-one spot in the contest to succeed Ban Ki-moon, the former South Korean foreign minister who steps down on December 31 after 10 years as the world’s top diplomat.

None of the other eight candidates picked up the minimum nine votes required to become the Security Council’s nominee for the top post.

“There is really only one person with nine positive votes,” said a Security Council diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Guterres remains well ahead.” The next straw poll is scheduled for October 5 but the five veto-wielding powers will be using coloured ballots in that round to indicate whether they would block a candidacy.

“If there is a veto (against Guterres), the whole thing opens up,” said a council diplomat.

Russia has said it would prefer a candidate from Eastern Europe to become the next UN chief, but it remains unclear if it will use its veto to block a contender from another region. French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the outcome of the straw poll “was very useful in clarifying the situation for all of the candidates”.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2016