Guyana's UN Secretary General nominee slips to third place in latest straw poll

Guyana’s nominee for the United Nations Secretary General job, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has slipped to third place in the latest straw poll conducted by the United Nations Security Council.

Rodrigues-Birkett is among seven candidates seeking the top UN job, but the job may be slipping away from her as the Security Council inches closer to its recommendation.

According to Article 97 of the UN Charter, the “Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”.

The Straw polls are informal ballots used to assess the viability of candidates before the Council makes its formal recommendation through a resolution adopted during a private meeting. There are fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council. Five of those members are Permanent Members and have the power to veto any of the candidates.

A successful candidate for the job would have to pick up at least nine votes from the Security Council with no veto.

In the latest straw poll which was conducted on Wednesday, Guyana’s candidate picked up only 5 encouraging votes, with 9 votes discouraged by her nomination and one “no opinion” vote.

It is a big drop off for Rodrigues-Birkett who previously placed within the top 2 of the previous straw polls with more encouraging votes than discouraging votes. It is the first time that she has more discouraging votes than encouraging votes. Still, Rodrigues-Birkett remains confident in her candidacy, although reports continue that the United States intends to block her nomination over her description of Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.

The latest straw poll saw the Costa Rican candidate, Rebeca Grynspan picking up 9 encouraging votes to maintain her lead. It is the fourth time that Grynspan has topped the straw polls. She was only bumped from the top position once, and that was when she placed second during the second straw poll just behind Rodrigues-Birkett.

In the latest straw poll, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, who was the first candidate to publicly declare his intentions to run for the UN’s top job, polled second with six encourage, seven discourage and two no opinion. He too is facing a major challenge to overcome the front runner.

Although Grynspan continues to top the polls, she still needs to convince the other six members of the UN Security Council to support her candidacy as her lead ahead of the other candidates remain slim.

The next UN Secretary General is expected to be in place by January, 2027.