{"id":754205,"date":"2026-04-26T10:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/754205\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:41:26","slug":"candidates-for-next-un-chief-spend-hours-selling-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/754205\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates for next UN chief spend hours selling themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 Four candidates vying to lead<\/a> the United Nations have spent hours being grilled about their views on issues from restoring global peace to ending escalating poverty \u2014 in what the U.N. General Assembly president called one of the toughest job interviews in the world.<\/p>\n

There was no clear victor after Chile\u2019s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina\u2019s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica\u2019s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal\u2019s Macky Sall fielded questions from U.N. ambassadors this past week.<\/p>\n

Plus, other candidates could wait until after the initial auditions to jump into the race to succeed U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a> on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis role matters,\u201d said General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who presided over the question-and-answer sessions. \u201cThe secretary-general is not only the head of the U.N. and the world\u2019s top diplomat \u2014 she or he also represents all 8 billion of us, defending the U.N. Charter and leading on peace, development, human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the candidates view the UN\u2019s work<\/p>\n

All four said they would focus on those three pillars of the U.N., especially its founding role following World War II<\/a> of ensuring international peace and security and preventing conflicts \u2014 which it has not been able to do in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other global hot spots because of wide divisions. They also pledged to spur reforms to the more than 80-year-old institution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bachelet, 74, a two-time president of Chile and former U.N. human rights chief, told the ambassadors that the U.N. must try to avoid crises and that she has the right leadership skills. <\/p>\n

\u201cI stand before you to reclaim the urgent need for dialogue,\u201d she said, stressing that the U.N. must anticipate, prevent and unite. The next secretary-general also needs to be \u201cphysically present in the field\u201d to help tackle problems, she said.<\/p>\n

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\"U.N.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Grossi, 65, a former Argentine diplomat who has been director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> since 2019, said that with the world so polarized, \u201cthere are enormous, huge doubts about our institution\u201d in solving global problems. <\/p>\n

Unless the U.N. has effective leadership and support from all countries, it won\u2019t regain a key place at the table, he said, \u201cso we have to concentrate on that.\u201d He also said the next U.N. chief must visit global hot spots.<\/p>\n

Grynspan<\/a>, 65, a former Costa Rican vice president who has been secretary-general of the U.N. trade and development agency since 2021, said she knows how to stand up for principles while under pressure. As secretary-general, she said she would \u201ccontinue to be the moral voice and the impartial voice that the secretary-general has to be.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.N. has become \u201ca risk-conservative organization,\u201d she warned. \u201cWe need to take more risks \u2014 and I am ready to fail and try again.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Sall, 64, who was president of Senegal<\/a> for 12 years, said the U.N. needs to \u201cregain its place at the global table.\u201d <\/p>\n

If chosen, he said he would be \u201ca bridge-builder\u201d and that his first priority would be \u201cto contribute to restoring trust, to calm tensions, reduce fragmentation and breathe renewed hope into our collective action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some candidates are facing pushback<\/p>\n

Bachelet, a medical doctor, responded to a letter from 28 Republican U.S. lawmakers calling her a \u201cpro-abortion zealot\u201d and asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio to veto her, saying the issue is controversial and that she respects every country\u2019s right to decide. <\/p>\n

She called herself a strong believer in women\u2019s rights to decide on their own lives and how many children to have. As secretary-general, she said she would do whatever is necessary to advance agreements by U.N. member nations, including on promoting gender equality.<\/p>\n

By tradition, the job of secretary-general rotates by region, and this year it is Latin America\u2019s turn. Sall, the only candidate from outside the region, said the U.N. Charter doesn\u2019t bar any candidates. <\/p>\n

He noted that after a leader from the global north \u2014 Guterres is Portuguese \u2014 the next U.N. chief should be from the global south. Sall was also the only candidate to spark demonstrations outside U.N. headquarters \u2014 both for and against his quest to be secretary-general. Sall has been accused of corruption, which he denies.<\/p>\n

What comes next in the race to lead the UN<\/p>\n

The four candidates \u201ctried to walk a political tightrope,\u201d said Daniel Forti, the International Crisis Group\u2019s head of U.N. affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not immediately obvious whether any candidate did enough to propel themselves ahead of the others, or to ward off potential challengers who might emerge later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The selection will be left to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council, especially its five veto-wielding members \u2014 the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France \u2014 that remain tight-lipped. The 193-member General Assembly must give final approval.<\/p>\n

Minh-Thu Pham, an adviser to former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and CEO of the Starling Institute think tank, said there is a widespread desire for a secretary-general who is willing to take risks and be more active in promoting peace. The U.N. isn\u2019t part of the conversation on major crises \u201cbecause it hasn\u2019t had the courage to take risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susana Malcorra, a former Argentine foreign minister and senior U.N. official who was a candidate for secretary-general in 2016, said the United Nations \u201cmore than ever\u201d needs new leadership and energy.<\/p>\n

The global advocacy group she leads, GWL Voices, has been campaigning for the next U.N. chief to be a woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 Four candidates vying to lead the United Nations have spent hours being grilled about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":754206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[36676,3881,4515,74,224785,57,118,3497,2934,305835,410,305834,50,80,5877,3490,305836,39761,305837,376,1206,103,107],"class_list":["post-754205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-ap-top-news","tag-chile","tag-china","tag-daniel-forti","tag-general-news","tag-human-rights","tag-humanitarian-crises","tag-legislation","tag-macky-sall","tag-marco-rubio","tag-michelle-bachelet","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-poverty","tag-rafael-grossi","tag-rebeca-grynspan","tag-senegal","tag-susana-malcorra","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-nations","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116470591580719564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}