UN secretary-general race: What it takes to be the world’s top diplomat

UN secretary-general race: What it takes to be the world’s top diplomat

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Sondos Asem

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Mon, 07/20/2026 - 12:27

The organisation is about to get a new leader as it comes under renewed criticism from the US and Israel

The UN will decide on a new secretary-general to replace Antonio Guterres, pictured here at UN HQ in New York in September 2024 (AFP)

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They command no army, run no country and cannot force a government to take action - but the role of secretary-general of the United Nations is still one of the most important on the world stage.

Successive occupants of the post have helped avert wars, shaped peace agreements and defined how the world responds to humanitarian crises.

Current incumbent Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, completes his second five-year term on 31 December. The following day, the 10th UN secretary-general will take office.

The UN chief cannot impose settlements but can mediate, deploy missions or place issues before the UN Security Council, which has primary responsibility under the UN Charter. The council has 15 members, of which five have a permanent veto (the US, UK, France, China, and Russia).

Governments and others have begun lobbying as to who will lead the organisation, which was founded in 1945.

It comes as, more than ever, the UN faces fundamental challenges to its authority and the international rules-based system it is meant to embody. 

But throughout all this one thing has not changed: the charter's description of the post.

How did the role come about?

The UN Charter, adopted in 1945, describes the secretary-general, the head of the Secretariat, as the organisation's "chief administrative officer" rather than a political leader. Throughout its history, the successful candidate has come from a country which is not regarded as a global power.

The first holder, Norway's Trygve Lie, served from 1946 until he resigned in 1952 amid Soviet opposition over the Korean War.

The office took on a broader political character under his successor, Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold, who served from 1953 and developed the practice of "preventive diplomacy", using the office to act in disputes where the major powers were divided. 

The charter now became the basis for launching enquiries, deploying UN missions and the secretary-general offering his "good offices" as a mediator. 

Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash September 1961, while on a mission to  resolve the conflict in the Congo, amid accusations that the flight was targeted. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.

Subsequent holders expanded on the role of the secretary-general as peacekeeper. U Thant (Myanmar, 1961–1971) was involved in the diplomacy around the Cuban Missile Crisis, while Kurt Waldheim (Austria, 1972–1981) furthered the idea of shuttle diplomacy with his work in ther Middle East, Cyprus and Namibia (his past as an intelligence officer in Nazi Germany did not emerge until after he left the UN).

Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru, 1982–1991) mediated an end to Iran-Iraq war in 1988, while Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt, 1992–1996) set out an agenda for UN peace operations after the Cold War. Kofi Annan (Ghana, 1997–2006), the first secretary-general to have worked his way up through the UN's own ranks, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the organisation in 2001.

Ban Ki-moon (South Korea, 2007–2016) prioritised climate change; and Guterres has led the UN through a period of funding cuts and Security Council deadlock over the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, where vetoes by permanent members have repeatedly blocked binding resolutions

Throughout all this one thing has not changed: the Charter's description of the post.

What about the Middle East?

Secretaries-general have repeatedly acted in the Middle East and North Africa, often when the UNSC has been divided:

Suez, 1956: After Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt after its nationalisation of the Suez Canal, Hammarskjold oversaw the creation of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), the first armed UN peacekeeping operation. It supervised the withdrawal of the invading forces by early 1957 and set a precedent for later UN peacekeeping missions.

Lebanon and Jordan (1958): Hammarskjold established the UN Observation Group in Lebanon (Unogil) and a UN presence in Jordan during the crisis that drew in US and British forces.

Iran–Iraq War (1987–88): In July 1987 the UNSC called for a ceasefire, which de Cuellar mediated between the two sides. Iraq accepted promptly but Iran took a further year. The ceasefire took effect in August 1988.

Iraq (1998): With US and British ready to attack Iraq for not allowing in weapons inspectors, Annan signed a memorandum of understanding with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz that secured access for inspectors. Air strikes were averted for the time being.

Gaza (2023): In December 2023, Guterres invoked Article 99 in a letter to the UNSC, warning that the war in Gaza threatened international peace and security, the first explicit use of the article in decades. A ceasefire resolution was vetoed by the US while Israel's UN ambassador called on Guterres to quit.

What powers does the secretary-general have?

The clearest political power set out in the Charter is Article 99. This allows the secretary-general to bring to the attention of the Security Council anything that, in the opinion of the UNSG, might threaten international peace and security. 

But it is the only semblance the UN chief has of any independent political function, and it has been formally invoked only a handful of times. Instead, the secretary-general has four broad duties:

Mediating: The secretary-general can mediate between parties, publicly or confidentially, with or without a mandate from the Security Council.

Leading: As the only official who speaks for the entire organisation, the secretary-general can set out UN positions through speeches, visits and statements.

Administering: The secretary-general appoints senior officials, including special envoys and the heads of peace operations, and manages the Secretariat.

Warning: Through reports, fact-finding missions and briefings, the office can raise issues before the Security Council formally takes them up.

To do each of these depends on the cooperation of member states, and in particular the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Who becomes UN secretary-general?

There are three unspoken rules which determine who can realistically lead the UN:

Regional rotation: The post has informally rotated among the world's regions: the past five holders of the role have come from Europe (Portugal), Asia (South Korea), and Africa (Ghana). The UN states that there is no official rotation policy, but some governments argue that the next holder should come from Latin America and the Caribbean, which  underpins why five of the current six lead candidates hail from the region. The last to do so was de Cuellar, who left office 35 years ago in 1991.

No permanent members: By long-standing practice, the five permanent members of the Security Council do not put forward their own nationals for the post. That means no secretary general from the UK, US, France, Russia or China.

Approval by the Security Council: A candidate must be acceptable to all five permanent members, each of which can veto a recommendation. Most secretaries-general served two five-year terms - but in 1996, Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali was blocked for a second term by the US veto. He was regarded as acting too independently of American interests, clashing with Washington over UN interventions in Somalia and the Balkans, as well as being insufficiently willing to reform the organisation.

How does the UN election work?

The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The detail of the process derives from General Assembly resolutions, most recently resolution 79/327, adopted in September 2025.

There are six broad steps, although the process can lack formal dates.

1. Nominations open (November 2025): The presidents of the Security Council and the General Assembly jointly invite nominations from member states. For the current election, that letter went out on 25 November last year.

2. Nominations submitted (by mid June): Individuals cannot nominate themselves. Instead states nominate candidates, either individually or jointly. Nominees submit a CV, a vision statement and campaign financing disclosures. There is no formal deadline but for this election, all nominations were received by 15 June. The Security Council formally began its procedural consideration of candidacies on 29 May.

3. Interviews held (July): Candidates appear in public sessions before the General Assembly, NGOs and related groups to present their plans and take questions. For this election, there are six candidates. Four candidates were interviewed in April and two more in June. All six will appear together at a debate in the UNGA hall on 23 July at the invitation of UN General Assembly president, Annalena Baerbock.

4. UNSC straw polls (late July onwards): The Security Council formally began its procedural consideration of candidacies on 29 May, but the real work - the straw polls - doesn't begin until after the debate. The 15 members of the UNSC hold informal secret ballots, in which members mark each candidate "encourage", "discourage" or "no opinion". The five permanent members use differently coloured ballots, allowing them to signal whether they would veto a candidate. The ballot continues until one candidate emerges with no veto from a permanent member.

5. Security Council recommendation (September-early October): The 81st session of the General Assembly opens on 8 September, with the high-level General Debate (when heads of state address the Assembly) from 22–28 September. The race is now in its final strait as the UNSC recommends a candidate to the UNGA. The person recommended needs the support of nine of the UNSC's 15 members, including all five of the permanent members. The past two appointments, Guterres (2016) and Ban Ki-moon (2006), happened in early October and October respectively.

6. General Assembly appointment (Ocotober): The candidate is put to the 193-member General Assembly, which appoints the secretary-general by a majority vote. It has never rejected the Security Council's recommendation. The term is five years, renewable once. The new secretary-general takes office on 1 January 2027.

Who are the six candidates in the race?

The candidates are, from top left: Michelle Bachelet, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Rafael Grossi, Rebeca Grynspan, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Macky Sall, all photos AFP

All but one of the six candidates are from Latin America and the Caribbean.

- Michelle Bachelet (Chile), a former president and former UN human rights chief

- Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), a former president of the General Assembly

- Rafael Grossi (Argentina), head of the International Atomic Energy Agency

- Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica), secretary-general of the UN trade body Unctad

- Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (Guyana), her country's permanent representative to the UN

- Macky Sall (Senegal), a former president of Senegal

Four of the six candidates are women, reflecting that, for the first 81 years of the UN, all the holders of the top job have been men.

What type of UN will the new secretary-general inherit?

The next secretary-general will take office as the UN faces a financial shortfall, US funding cuts and criticism over the Security Council's response to the wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine. The organisation is also pursuing an internal reform effort known as UN80 to streamline operations and cut costs amid a funding crisis

There are legitimate questions about the viability of the international order that has existed since 1945, the UN Charter, the role of the Security Council and the principle that disputes are settled under international law. 

That system was largely created by the US, which emerged from the Second World War as the dominant power and the principal architect of an international order designed to prevent the recurrence of global conflict. 

But that very same country is now one of the primary sources of threats to the system it built. 

US President Donald Trump, one of the UN’s fiercest critics, speaks at the UNGA in New York in September 2025 (AFP)

Under both administrations of President Donald Trump, the US has withdrawn from 66 international organisations and UN bodies, including the World Health Organisation, Unesco and the UN Human Rights Council.

Washington, which under the formula accepted by all member states is assessed as providing 22 percent of the regular UN budget, has withheld its contribution. By the end of 2025, outstanding dues across the UN system had reached a record $1.57bn: as a result, the organisation cut its 2026 regular budget by more than 15 percent from the previous year's approved appropriation, reducing staffing by nearly 19 percent. 

In January, Guterres warned member states of the  "imminent financial collapse" of the UN, and that it could run out of cash by July. 

Under Guterres, the Security Council has been unable to halt or prevent genocides in Gaza and Sudan. Since the start of the year, Washington has violated international law in what are regarded as breaches of the charter, including abducting and detaining Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro; and its joint war with Israel on Iran.

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