UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28: South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon led in the secret UN Security Council ballots and diplomats here said on Thursday that he stood a fair chance of becoming the next head of the world body.

Next Monday the 15 member Security Council is expected to hold a formal meeting to select one of the seven candidates in the running .A candidate getting most votes without a veto will be recommended to the 192 member UN General Assembly for consideration.

Others in the running are Undersecretary General for Public Information Shashi Tharoor (Indian candidate), Thailand’s former Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Jordan’s UN ambassador Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the Sri Lankan diplomat and former Undersecretary-General for Disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala and former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani.

If the UN tradition of geographical rotation is followed, this is Asia’s turn to lead the world body, and six of the seven announced candidates are Asian men. The seventh is an Eastern European woman, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

US Ambassador John Bolton said on Wednesday that Washington’s chief criterion for a new secretary-general is that he or she has strong administrative skills.