UN begins search for next secretary general as Guterres' term nears end

By Magdalena Del Valle

 

The search for the next leader of the United Nations has officially begun. 

In a letter on Tuesday, the presidents of the UN General Assembly and Security Council invited member states to nominate candidates to succeed Secretary General Antonio Guterres after his second five-year term expires next year.

 

“Our choice will send a powerful message about who we are as a United Nations and whether we truly serve all the people of the world,” Annalena Baerbock, president of the UN General Assembly, told reporters on Tuesday.

 

The selection process is set to last several months and could see many rounds of votes from the Security Council before the body’s 15 members approve a candidate to send to the General Assembly for a final vote from all member states. 

 

New candidates can emerge at any time, with the next secretary general taking office in January 2027.

 

Some have called for an emphasis on female nominees, given the UN has never been led by a woman. There’s also an unofficial UN tradition that the secretary general’s nationality should rotate between regions, with Latin American and Caribbean candidates preferred this time around. 

 

The letter encourages member states to “strongly consider nominating women candidates” and notes “the importance of regional diversity in the selection of Secretaries-General,” without stating a preference for a specific regional affiliation.

 

The US has emphasized, however, that candidature should be “merit-based” and include people from “all regional groupings,” Deputy US representative Dorothy Shea said at an Oct. 24 Security Council meeting.

Here are some people who have come forward for consideration as the next UN chief:

• Rafael Mariano Grossi, an Argentinian diplomat who heads of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has worked to court the Trump administration and cast himself as the pragmatic diplomat needed to keep US funding flowing.

• Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s first female president and a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, introduced tax and education reforms while in office but her criticism of China — which has veto power on the Security Council — could affect her chances.

• Rebeca Grynspan, the former vice president of Costa Rica, is an economist currently working as a senior UN official. She’s been critical of Trump’s tariffs for hurting the world’s poor and helped re-introduce Ukraine’s food and fertilizer exports to the world after Russia’s invasion.