United Nations, Nov. 2 (DPnet).– The process has already been put to a vote seven times without reaching a definitive result regarding Guterres’s successor in January 2027.
Current Status of the Race
- Seventh Straw Poll: The Security Council held its seventh informal straw poll on October 30, 2026.
- Front-Runner: According to reports by PassBlue and the Council on Foreign Relations published on November 2, 2026, Rebeca Grynspan (former Costa Rican vice president and former head of UNCTAD) maintains the lead, receiving 11 "encourage" votes and 4 "discourage" votes in the seventh round.
- Permanent Member Vetoes: Because recent straw polls have used undifferentiated (non-color-coded) ballots, it is not clear what "discourage" votes came from any of the five permanent veto-wielding members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States). To be recommended, a candidate needs at least 9 favorable votes and no vetoes. Given that Grynspan has received 11 votes in her favor, it is clear that her election did not go forward due to one or more vetoes.
Following this seventh round of voting, Feridun Sinirlioğlu of Turkey was nominated as a candidate to help overcome the impasse. Days earlier, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates had also been nominated for the same purpose; however, in her very first ballot, she received 7 "encourage" votes, 6 "discourage" votes, and 2 "no opinion" votes, placing her in fourth position.
It is unlikely that these two candidates will secure approval, as it has been the established practice since the founding of the United Nations to rotate the region from which the chosen candidate hails—and now it is the turn of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Therefore, Rebeca Grynspan from Costa Rica (Center), Rafael Mariano Grossi from Argentina (right), and María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés from Ecuador (left) remain the favorites.
Eighth Straw Poll
The next round of informal voting may face delays into December 2026, depending on the rotating presidency of the Security Council (such as potential scheduling shifts during Latvia's or Liberia's presidency).
Once the Security Council agrees on a single nominee, it passes a formal recommendation to the United Nations General Assembly, which must appoint the new Secretary-General under Article 97 of the UN Charter.
The United Nations General Assembly can legally reject a candidate recommended by the Security Council, though this has never happened in UN history.
However, if the General Assembly votes down the Security Council’s nominee, the selection process enters unprecedented legal territory. According to UN procedural rules and constitutional experts, the selection process is sent back to the Security Council. The Council must restart its deliberations, hold new informal straw polls if necessary, and vote to recommend an entirely different candidate. The Security Council submits a new name to the General Assembly for another vote. This loop continues until both bodies agree on the same individual, but it is highly unlikely that this will ever happen.