Shashi Tharoor emerges prime contender for UNSG

THOUGH a late entrant to the race, Shashi Tharoor from India has emerged among the top two contenders for the post of United Nations Security General.

The UN Security Council informally started the process of selecting the successor to Kofi Annan, the incumbent, whose term expires in December.

What is being called as the straw poll, the 15-member UN Security Council in its secret ballot held last week voted Tharoor as the second most favorable candidate for the coveted post after the South Korean Foreign Minister, Ban Ki-Moon.

A career UN diplomat, Tharoor is the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the world body.

The other two candidate in race so far, Surakiart Sathirathai from Thailand and Jayantha Dhanapala from Sri Lanka, were ranked at the third and fourth place respectively, UN diplomats coming out of the informal secret ballot or straw poll told the reporters.

Diplomats said Ban received the most favorable votes i.e.; 12 encouragements, one of discouragement and two no opinions, while Tharoor received 10 encouragement votes, two discouragements and three no opinions.

As per the selection process, the candidate needs to get support from all five permanent members of the Security Council to be elected to the post of Secretary General. The five members are the US, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Diplomats said the next round of straw polls would be held early September, after which the Security Council would formally start the selection process. Under the UN Charter rules, the secretary-general is elected by the 192-member General Assembly as recommended by the Security Council.

The straw poll results as revealed by the diplomats have come as a big boost to Tharoor’s candidature, given that he entered the race only last year.

Sources said the straw poll results were encouraging for both Tharoor and India and that the chances for him seemed bright.

However, sources said Tharoor who is popular in the UN for his brilliant track record still has some ground to cover in next two months as major powers are yet to endorse him.