There was quite some disquiet particularly among a large number of developing countries when Helen Clark, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), announced her official candidature on April 4, underlining her conviction that she was “up to the task” of leading the United Nations.
Earlier, on Feb. 29, Antonio Guterres, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees and ex-Prime Minister of Portugal, had announced his official candidature for the post of the UN chief.
In doing so, the two aspirants had virtually undermined the longstanding claim that Ban’s successor should be from Eastern Europe under a system of traditional geographical rotation. “This system has ensured that the post of the world’s topmost diplomat is not monopolized by the rich and powerful,” said a developing country diplomat. Representatives of the smaller and developing nations do not have huge funds and staff at their disposal that would be required to push through their candidates against the “widely more influential and powerful” of the world, the diplomat said on condition that he not be named. Knowledgeable sources said that the view is shared by a “huge” number of G77 countries comprising 134 countries including China, from around the world. They have taken note of UN General Assembly President Morgens Lykketoft’s remarks in an interview with the UN News Centre on April 8 in which he expressed the view that the international community is ready to accept a female secretary-general. “We have to keep clear, I think, that we have to find the best person. But many of us don’t see any reason why the best person should not be a woman for the first time,” he said. “And that’s an argument in itself.”
The three women candidates from Eastern Europe are: UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria; Vesna Pusic, former Foreign Minister of Croatia, and Natalia Gherman, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Moldova.
In three sessions on April 12, 13 and 14, each candidate was given a televised and webcast two-hour timeslot, starting with a short oral presentation. Representatives from member states then asked questions, followed by the president of the General Assembly. The UN Charter, signed in 1945 as the foundation of the Organization, says relatively little about how a Secretary-General is to be selected, aside from Article 97, which notes that the candidate “shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”
At its first session in 1946, the General Assembly was much more active in the selection process. It created resolution A/RES/1/11 determining that the Council take the lead in the selection process, agree on a single name in a private meeting, and pass that name down to the General Assembly for a vote. Since 1946, the Security Council has done just that, discussing and voting behind closed doors in straw polls for members to either “encourage” or “discourage” a candidate to continue. This process has come to be known as the “Wisnumurti Guidelines,” named after Ambassador Nugroho Wisnumurti of Indonesia who held the rotating presidency of the Council in November 1996 when the guidelines were set.
These straw polls continue until there is a majority candidate without a single veto from a permanent member of the Security Council. That name is then officially transferred to the General Assembly, whose membership historically rubber-stamps the candidate. But in recent years, there has been a push for greater transparency to those straw polls, not just within the political circles but from civil society, including the “1 for 7 billion” campaign, which includes the World Federation of UN Associations, among others.
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IDN-InDepthNews
