As U.S., Russia Wrestle <br>Over U.N.’s Next Leader <br>One Option Is To Keep Ban

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The New York Sun

As the race for secretary general of the United Nations heats up, here’s one option that as yet is only whispered in the halls: Punt.

America and Russia, the top players that will decide the race among the ten remaining declared candidates in the race to replace the current Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, are so divided over so many issues — from Syria to Ukraine — that they may well fail to agree on a candidate before December 31, when a new UN chief is supposed to take his seat in the UN building’s 38 floor.

Russia is holding the presidency of the Security Council, the body that will determine the next secretary general, in the month of October. If there’s no decision by the middle of the month, Moscow’s UN ambassador told Russia’s NTV, “All have to start over and Ban Ki-moon will have to work in 2017.”

That will be music to the ears of Mr. Ban’s wife, Yoo Soon-taek, who, I’m told, quietly discourages the secretary general from running for the South Korean presidency next year.

The UN charter doesn’t exclude extending the term of the secretary general beyond two terms of five years each. If Mr. Ban ignores his wife’s advice and decides to take the plunge into the rough and tumble of Seoul politics, the Council could recommend that his deputy, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, become temporary chief.

On Monday the latest entry into the race, Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria, answered questions from General Assembly members. She is considered to be a far better candidate than fellow Bulgarian, Irina Bukova.

Yet, Ms. Georgieva, who is an articulate former World Banker with leanings toward democracy and liberty values, could encounter some Russian resistance. She is, after all, working as the European Commission’s top budget executive, marking her as a European Union player.

Russia has long professed to promote candidates from the former Soviet Bloc, the sole region that has not, to date, fielded a UN chief. But Moscow wants the right Eastern European — one that will lean toward the Kremlin.

Given that, I asked Georgieva on Monday if the Russia would approve of her candidacy. She asked if I spoke Russian, and proceeded to coin a phrase in that language that she then translated into “We will wait and see.”

The wait may be short. On Wednesday the Security Council is set to conduct its sixth straw poll among the candidates, and the first one in which Ms. Georgieva is slated to compete.

The main question is whether she can surpass the current front runner, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, who has led all polls so far, but was consistently opposed by two of the council’s 15 members. Diplomats tell me that the two holdups are New Zealand, which supports its former president, Helen Clark, for the job, and Russia, which has been saying it prefers candidates from Eastern Europe.

“We’ll find a way,” Vitali Churkin, the Russian ambassador, told me Monday, when asked if Russia intends to veto any candidates.

New contenders may yet decide to enter the race. Diplomats mention Switzerland’s Peter Mauer, who currently heads the International Red Cross, and Sigrid Kaag, a U.N. officials from the Netherlands, as possible new candidates. One of her assignments has been overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal.

But as Mr. Churkin told reporters, after the Wednesday poll the council may move toward a formal vote. At that point, cards that have been kept close to the chest would then be laid on the table. And then, he added, we will all see “if we have an agreed candidate or do we have to start from scratch.”

That is to say, punt.


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