After a decade in power, Antonio Guterres, will end his second term as UN Secretary-General on December 31. There are currently six candidates lining up to replace him. Whoever emerges victorious has a tough task, with the relevance, power and financial capability of the UN under an increasingly harsh spotlight.
The UN Secretary-General is “equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO,” according to the organization itself. The holder of the position oversees several vital UN organs, including the Security Council, charged with maintaining peace and security.
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The winning candidate will be selected by the UN’s General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council (whose permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), making the path to victory narrow and fraught.
Here’s what you need to know about each candidate ahead of a debate between them on Thursday (July 23) at the UN’s General Assembly Hall in New York.
Michelle Bachelet
The first female president of Chile (from 2006 to 2010 and then 2014 to 2018) is vying to become the first female UN Secretary-General, after several women lost out to Guterres in 2016. “If I am polite, I would say the world was not prepared for it. Is it prepared now? I hope so,” Bachelet, 74, said earlier this year. “It will be a very good signal,” she said, adding that it would provide hope for many people.
Bachelet also served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2018 and 2022, a position which saw her involved in many of the key geopolitical issues she would face if elected. While she has admitted she has no “magic formula” to resolve the issues on the Security Council, Bachelet has sought to talk up her experience as a key asset.
Rafael Mariano Grossi
The Argentine diplomat has spent most of his career in the nuclear and atomic energy sectors, culminating in his 2019 appointment as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an autonomous organization within the UN.
Given the geopolitical landscape, with nuclear war perceived as an increasing threat, Grossi sees his background as “clearly an advantage. You have to understand the world you live in,” he told Swiss outlet Geneva Solutions.
Grossi supports the UN’s current attempt at reform known as UN80 and says there is “no need to reinvent the wheel” but wants to streamline the organization with mergers of UN entities and reductions in “duplications, triplications, even quadruplications or quintuplications of structures,” which add significant costs to members.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa
The Spanish-born Ecuadorian has packed plenty into her 61 years. As well as a stint as Ecuador’s foreign minister, Espinosa is a poet, essayist and an expert on sustainable development and climate change, particularly in the Amazon region, where she worked with indigenous communities at the beginning of her career.
Espinosa acknowledged the UN’s budget difficulties in an interview with UK newspaper The Observer. “The biggest challenge right now is the financial challenge,” said Espinosa, who was also president of the UN General Assembly. As a result, she says, the UN must “reform, transform or die.”
To achieve such reform, Espinosa wants to work more collaboratively with regional organizations, and lean on Europe, both in financial terms and as a “bridge-builder” between states with conflicting interests and desires.
Rebeca Grynspan
Vice President of her native Costa Rica between 1994 and 1998, Grynspan is currently Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which advocates for developing countries in trade deals. Her work on negotiating a deal between the warring parties for the continued export of Ukrainian grain after the Russian invasion in 2022 has been widely praised.
Grynspan wants the UN to be bolder. “Bureaucracies are very risk-averse by nature, and you cannot have a good idea or take risk,” she said at a recent event hosted by think tank Chatham House in London. She has also called for wider representation on the Security Council, particularly from Africa or Latin America.
Macky Sall
While other candidates have held prominent political positions, Sall’s experience is the most recent. The 64-year-old was president of Senegal from 2012 to 2024, having previously served as the country’s prime minister.
During his presidential tenure, Senegal saw significant infrastructure improvements. But Sall’s popularity took a downward turn in 2021, during his second term, after protests against the imprisonment of opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko. Sall’s unsuccessful attempt to postpone the 2024 presidential election, which triggered further deadly protests, has left him a divisive figure in his homeland.
Senegal’s current government did not initially support Sarr’s candidacy for the UN role but u-turned last month to back his bid.
Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett
The final candidate to throw their hat in the ring, Rodrigues Birkett entered the race in mid-June. She is the permanent representative of Guyana to the United Nations and has previously undertaken roles in both the UN and as Guyana’s foreign minister, Rodrigues Birkett is an Amerindian (the Indigenous peoples of the Americas) and has also held governmental roles related to that community.
Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali recently spelt out her UN ambitions.
“Ambassador Rodrigues Burkett’s vision for the United Nations centers on strengthening multilateralism, enhancing effectiveness and responsiveness of the organization, promoting inclusive global governance and ensuring the United Nations remains capable of addressing contemporary challenges,” he said.
Edited by: Rob Mudge
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