Portugal's former PM poised to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN chief
Portugal's former prime minister, Antonio Guterres, is set to become the next UN secretary general after he won the backing of the majority of Security Council members, including four veto-holding powers.
On Wednesday, 13 of the 15 Security Council members, including four of the five veto holders, endorsed Guterres to replace Ban Ki-moon, who will stand down in January 2017 after 10 years at the helm.
Guterres received two "no opinion" votes during the secret ballot, Reuters reported.
“Today after our sixth straw poll we have a clear favorite and his name is Antonio Guterres,” the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters with his 14 council colleagues standing behind him.
“We have decided to go to a formal vote tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, and we hope it can be done by acclamation,” he added.
Guterres had held the number one spot among the other nine candidates in the previous five informal votes by the UN Security Council.
The former Portuguese prime minister, 67, led the country from 1995 to 2002. He was also the chief of the UN refugee agency for 10 years until 2015.
He will be the first former head of government to lead the United Nations.
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