Olara Otunnu climbs to 3rd place in UN Secretary General race

Uganda’s Olara Otunnu has moved from fifth to third place in the race for United Nations secretary-general after the latest informal vote by the Security Council.

Otunnu received five “encourage” votes, seven “discourage” votes and three “no opinion” votes in the third straw poll held on September 18.

The result places him behind Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett among the eight candidates.

Grynspan led with nine “encourage” votes, five “discourage” votes and one “no opinion”. Rodrigues-Birkett followed with eight “encourage”, six “discourage” and one “no opinion”.

Otunnu tied with Argentina’s Rafael Grossi and former Senegalese president Macky Sall on five positive votes. However, he received fewer “discourage” votes than both, putting him ahead of them in the latest distribution.

The result is an improvement in Otunnu’s relative position, although his number of positive votes remains unchanged from the second poll on August 21.

His support has grown since the first poll on July 30, when he received two “encourage” votes, five “discourage” and eight “no opinion”. He increased his positive votes to five in August.

The latest vote comes as Uganda steps up diplomatic efforts to build support for Otunnu.

On September 14, Otunnu met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow as part of outreach to Security Council members. Former prime minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who is coordinating Uganda’s campaign, accompanied him.

Russia is one of the five permanent Security Council members alongside China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A candidate ultimately needs at least nine votes in the 15-member Council and must avoid a veto from any permanent member. The Council then recommends a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for appointment.

The current straw polls do not distinguish votes cast by permanent members from those of the 10 elected members, leaving the candidates uncertain about possible vetoes.

The Security Council is selecting a successor to António Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31, 2026.