Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 30 September 2016: New UN Secretary General candidate Kristalina Georgieva rocks the boat amongst Security Council members

Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva, a vice president of the European Commission and a former official at the World Bank, has been proposed as a new candidate for the post of UN Secretary General. The decision was announced on September 28 by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov after having evaluated the disappointing result of five appreciation informal polls of the UN Security Council on its previous backed candidate Irina Bokova, general director of UNESCO.

Referring to Ms. Bokova, Bulgarian PM said “we gave her one last chance, awaiting the results from the latest vote”, considering Kristalina Georgieva “a more successful nomination”. Officially, both Ms. Bokova and Ms. Georgieva keep on running to be nominated as the new UN Secretary General, even though Ms. Bokova has lost her government’s support, which makes her candidacy almost insignificant.

However, Georgieva's candidacy has raised political debates within the UN Security Council, especially among permanent members. When first rumours about a second Bulgarian candidate came out, the five announced they would have vetoed any candidacy which would not have been officially backed by their own government. Now, the U.S., China and partially the United Kingdom, followed by other non-permanent members such as Italy and Germany, are willing to support Georgieva’s late entry, while France confirms its support to Ántonio Guterres, former Portugal PM. On the other hand, although Russian expectations would be that of a people from Eastern Europe, Georgieva candidacy couldn’t suit Moscow’s preferences due to her role of vice-President of the European Commission, which is enforcing sanctions against the country.

To date, ten candidates are competing to succeed the outgoing UNSG Ban Ki-moon: Irina Bokova (Bulgaria), Kristalina Georgieva (Bulgaria), Helen Clark (New Zealand), Natalia Gherman (Moldova), Vuk Jeremić (Serbia), Srgjam Kerim (Macedonia), Miroslav Lajčák (Slovakia), Susanna Malcorra (Argentina), Danilo Türk (Slovenia), and Ántonio Guterres, who continues to lead preference votes. From what is leaking out, after 70 years of male leadership, the next UNSG’s profile should be that of a woman, possibly from Eastern Europe. For these reasons, Georgieva’s candidacy seems to be potentially very valuable, despite Bulgarian government changed support, Russian and France veto power, and despite divisions amongst European members themselves. A consensus candidate is expected in next weeks.