The Argentine Rafael Grossi is among the three candidates with the most support in the first informal vote held by the United Nations Security Council to determine the successor of António Guterres, whose term ends in December 2026.
Grossi received 7 votes, the same number as Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, while Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett led the first round with 8 votes. These are two leftist candidates seeking to take over the UN Secretary-General position.
Thus, the current director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is positioned among the main names in a race that is still open and will have new stages before it is determined who will occupy the UN Secretary-General role.
The deliberation took place this Friday behind closed doors and in a reserved and informal manner. The result does not constitute a definitive trend, but it represents an initial signal regarding the level of support each candidate has within the Security Council.
In Grossi's case, the voting resulted in 7 “Encouraged” votes, meaning endorsements, along with 6 “Discouraged” and 2 “No opinion”. Grynspan also received 7 “Encouraged” votes, but recorded 4 “Discouraged” and 4 “No opinion”. Rodrigues-Birkett, for her part, achieved 8 “Encouraged”, 3 “Discouraged” and 4 “No opinion”.
This instance is part of a process that still has a decisive stage ahead. The 15 members of the Security Council initially use a ballot of the same color to express their position on the candidates through the categories “Encouraged”, “Discouraged” and “No opinion”.
