UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Nine candidates seeking to become the world’s top diplomat answered a total of about 800 questions over the past three days from ambassadors and advocacy groups in the first move in the U.N.’s 70-year history to open up the usually secret selection of the next secretary-general.
General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft, who presided over the question-and-answer sessions, said he was “very inspired” that in addition to almost all 193 U.N. member states taking part, 227,000 people from 209 countries and territories watched some of the webcast.
“It has already made a difference,” he told reporters late Thursday. “We have established a new standard of transparency and inclusivity for the selection of the secretary-general.”
According to the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general is chosen by the 193-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.
In practice, this has meant that the council’s five permanent members – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France – have veto power over the candidates. That will not change in deciding whom to recommend to succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.