Guyana’s Rodrigues Birkett leads informal poll in race to be next UN leader

Eight ‘encourage’ votes put the Guyanese ambassador ahead as the council works towards consensus before current Secretary-General Guterres departs at the end of December.Published On 22 Aug 202622 Aug 2026The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) conducted its second non-binding straw poll on Friday in the race to select the next UN secretary-general, with Guyana’s Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett emerging as the frontrunner ahead of seven other declared candidates.Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen of Denmark, the council’s president for August, confirmed the vote had concluded.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Dozens feared dead in Guyana after ferry carrying 133 people capsizeslist 2 of 3Antonio Guterres: ‘Huge risk’ of great fracture happening in global systemlist 3 of 3The United Nations in a divided worldend of listAccording to results circulated after the poll, Rodrigues Birkett received eight ‘encourage’ votes, three ‘discourage’ votes and four members offering no opinion. She was closely followed by Costa Rican diplomat Rebeca Grynspan and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi of Argentina, who each collected seven ‘encourage’ votes. Gross...