The UN Security Council held its first straw poll on Thursday to assess candidates seeking to replace Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second term is set to conclude at the end of the year.
Speaking to reporters after the closed-door informal vote, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s UN ambassador and current Security Council president, said the results would be communicated to the ambassadors of the countries that nominated candidates as well as to the General Assembly president.
Ngay declined to disclose the results publicly, saying this is done to keep the process confidential and avoid speculation.
“The thinking behind is to keep everything close, and we want transparency at the same time, (and) efficiency, but we don’t want speculations on that,” he said.
Asked whether withholding the results is compatible with transparency, Ngay said the procedure was a decision of the Security Council rather than his own.
He added that the date of the next straw poll had not yet been decided and would take place under Denmark’s Security Council presidency next month.
