UN Secretary-General Race Heats Up Amid Talk of New Candidates

The campaign to elect the next UN Secretary-General is entering an active phase. The first candidates have already emerged, but the nomination process is still underway. Against this backdrop, discussions about possible new contenders — including Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev — continue, political analyst Andrey Chebotarev said, Orda.kz reports.

So far, the declared candidates for the post include former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan, and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.

Starting April 20, the UN General Assembly will hold a series of open dialogues with the candidates. They are expected to present their platforms and answer questions from member states. In July, the process will move to a key stage in the Security Council, after which one candidate will be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.

According to Chebotarev, speculation around the possible nomination of Kazakhstan’s president intensified during the drafting and adoption of the country’s new Constitution.

Apparently, this was influenced by the accelerated implementation of constitutional reform and changes in the mechanisms ensuring the continuity of presidential power, including the possible restoration of the post of vice president. In this regard, it seems that political groundwork may have been prepared for a transfer of power in the near future.Chebotarev wrote. 

Analyst Viktor Kovtunovsky also believes that the possible election of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as UN Secretary-General could benefit Russia and the member states of the Organization of Turkic States. In his view, a candidate could be informally proposed at the summit in Turkestan.

At the same time, Tokayev has previously said that he does not seek to return to work at the UN.

In these circumstances, the presence of the current applicants for the post of UN Secretary-General could have put an end to this discussion. But apparently, the nomination process has not yet been completed, and other candidates may still emerge. As the 2016 election showed, two of the 13 candidates were nominated as late as July and September.Chebotarev wrote. 

For that reason, he believes that intrigue remains around future nominations in general, and around the possible involvement of Kazakhstan’s president in particular.

Chebotarev added that developments both inside Kazakhstan and abroad — including the informal summit in Turkestan, parliamentary elections, and the possible appointment of a vice president — could either confirm or disprove this assumption.

Original author: Elvira Ivannikova

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