The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in a rare show of unity, on Wednesday joined the ten non-permanent ambassadors from the security council to announce that they had agreed on António Guterres as the next UN Secretary General.
“Today, after the sixth vote, we have a clear favourite and his name is António Guterres. We have decided to go ahead with a formal vote” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
“Ladies And gentlemen, you are witnessing a historic scene. It has never before been done this way. This was a very important selection process”, the Russian ambassador said as he was joined by the 14 other ambassadors to announce the Portuguese as their choice to lead the United Nations.
“The people wanted to unite around someone who had impressed them throughout this process and who impressed them at various levels”, American Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters.
Guterres won 13 votes in his support and two abstentions, with no one voting against him. He had similar results in the five previous ballots held since the summer.
The second-place candidate, the Slovak Miroslav Lajcák, had seven votes in support and six against him – two of them vetoes from permanent council members.
Kristalina Georgieva from Bulgaria, was given a month off by the European Commission to launch a last-ditch attempt to scupper Guterres’s candidacy. But despite support from Brussels, and particularly from Angela Merkel, eight of the 15 council members voted against her, including two permanent member vetoes.
Despite receiving praise from all over the globe, the European Commission had not yet commented on the Portuguese statesman being given one of the most prominent jobs on the international arena.
In the meantime, the United Nation’s new secretary general is to take over from Ban Ki-moon as of 1 January 2017.
Speaking after the former Socialist Party leader’s victory, Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said: “Here is the best person to be chosen. And this is very good for the world, for the United Nations and for Portugal.”
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said that the Security Council’s approval of António Guterres was the right decision and that “everything indicates that the right person is going to be in the right place.