UN takes historic step to open selection of new UN chief

Updated: 2016-04-13 07:42

(Agencies)

UN takes historic step to open selection of new UN chief

Irina Bokova , Director-General of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).[Photo/Xinhua]

By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions and Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the top UN post. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn. There has also never been a woman secretary-general and a group of 56 nations are campaigning for the first female UN chief.

There are currently four women and four men who have thrown their hats in the ring — six from Eastern Europe, one from Western Europe and one from the Asia-Pacific region.

In addition to Luksic, they are: former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim; former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pucic; former Slovenian President Danilo Turk; UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova from Bulgaria; former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; former UN refugee chief and ex-Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the UN Development Program.

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