United Nations Secretary-General selection United Nations Secretary-General selection is the process of selecting the next secretary-general of the United Nations. To be selected as secretary-general, a candidate must receive the votes of at least nine members of the United Nations Securi ...

was held in June 2021 to choose the

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. Incumbent Antonio Guterres was the only official candidate for the position. On June 8, 2021, Guterres was unanimously recommended by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

(SC) for a second term at the helm of the organisation. His re-election was ratified by the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

(GA) by acclamation on June 18, 2021, without a vote. Guterres commenced his second term on 1 January 2022.

Background

Article 97 of the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

, states "The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council". As a result, the selection is subject to the veto of any of the five permanent members of the Security Council. The Charter's minimal language has since been supplemented by other procedural rules and accepted practices. Although different regions have held the office, no secretary from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

has ever been selected Secretary-General. No woman has ever been selected either. In 2016 there were various international campaigns to select an eastern European or a woman. Despite this, the selection was won by the only candidate who was neither female nor from Eastern Europe. In 2021, some groups attempted to revive the campaign to elect a woman at the helm of the United Nations, but no female candidate was nominated by a member state to be considered by the Security Council.

Candidates

In order to be eligible for selection, a candidate must be nominated by at least one member state. On June 8, the day the security council convened to recommend a candidate to the general assembly, there was only one official candidate in the selection process (incumbent Antonio Guterres), and seven additional self-declared applicant candidates.

Official Candidates

The incumbent Secretary General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

confirmed he would be seeking a second five-year term.

Other notable declared candidates

* Arora Akanksha, audit coordinator for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

since 2017 *

Rosalía Arteaga Rosalía Arteaga Serrano (born 5 December 1956) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the country's first female head of state as acting president for a few days in 1997. Arteaga announced her intention to serve as Secretary-General of the ...

, President of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

from February 9, 1997 to February 11, 1997. This candidate was proposed by the Forward campaign, an initiative promoted by Colombe Cahen-Salvador and Andrea Venzon of the Atlas Movement.

Campaign

By May 2021, Incumbent Antonio Guterres had already secured the support of all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and of the

Non-aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...

, leading some observers to believe that his re-election was almost a certainty.

Endorsements

Results

On June 8, 2021, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution recommending António Guterres for a second term at the helm of the United Nations. His re-election was ratified by the

by acclamation on June 18, 2021, without a vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2021 United Nations Secretariat Secretaries-General of the United Nations United Nations General Assembly elections 2021 elections 2021 in international relations