Russia’s envoy reveals names of five candidates vying to lead UN

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, ex-President of Senegal Macky Sall, Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), currently on special leave, and Maria Fernanda Espinosa, former President of the United Nations General Assembly, are currently vying for the post of secretary-general of the global organization, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya revealed.

"We have five official candidates: Grossi, Bachelet, former President of Senegal Macky Sall, former Secretary-General of UNCTAD Grynspan from Costa Rica, and a recent addition - Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa, who was the president of the General Assembly in 2018. I know her very well," the diplomat told Vesti in an interview.

New people, who Nebenzya said were currently "sitting in an ambush, waiting to see how things will unfold," may emerge at a later stage, he suggested.

The UN will begin choosing its next chief on July 24 and the selection will end as soon as one candidate secures nine votes, including five from the UN Security Council’s veto-wielding members, he explained.

The second and final term of incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ends on December 31.