Grynspan Leads UN Secretary-General Race with 12 Votes

Former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan received 12 encourage votes and three discourage votes in the UN Security Council’s eighth informal straw poll on November 5, 2026, strengthening her position in the race to succeed Secretary-General António Guterres.

The closed-door vote marked Grynspan’s strongest showing in the succession contest. She improved on her October 30 result, when she received 11 encourage votes and four discourage votes.

However, three opposing ballots leave a crucial question unresolved: whether any came from a permanent Security Council member with veto power. The November 5 vote used undifferentiated white ballots, preventing observers from identifying individual delegations’ positions.

Security Council Straw Poll Results

The latest reported figures show the following breakdown for five candidates among the Council’s 15 voting members:

• Rebeca Grynspan, Costa Rica: 12 encourage, 3 discourage, 0 no opinion.

• Rafael Mariano Grossi, Argentina: 9 encourage, 4 discourage, 2 no opinion.

• Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana: 8 encourage, 5 discourage, 2 no opinion.

• Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, United Arab Emirates: 7 encourage, 6 discourage, 2 no opinion.

• Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu, Türkiye: 3 encourage, 8 discourage, 4 no opinion.

The figures represent informal voting results rather than an officially published roll-call record. The Security Council has not disclosed which delegations supported or opposed individual candidates in this round.

Under the UN’s selection procedure, a candidate must secure at least nine Council votes without a veto from any of the five permanent members: the United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia.

Grynspan exceeded that numerical threshold, while Grossi reached it. Neither outcome guarantees a formal recommendation because the anonymous ballots cannot establish whether either candidate faces opposition from a veto-holding member.

Late Entrants Face Opposition

The November ballot also tested two candidates who entered the contest during the final weeks of October and the beginning of November.

Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, a former United Arab Emirates permanent representative to the United Nations, was nominated on October 21 following the withdrawal of former Senegalese President Macky Sall.

Her showing remained unchanged from the preceding round. With seven encourage votes and six discourage votes, Nusseibeh had not reached the nine-vote threshold needed for a formal Council recommendation.

Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu, who heads the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, entered the contest following his nomination by Türkiye on November 1.

His first straw poll produced more discourage than encourage votes. The result illustrated the opposition facing his candidacy as the Council continued assessing its options.

During informal General Assembly dialogues on November 6, Sinirlioğlu faced questions about Ankara’s maritime policies and whether he could exercise independence from the Turkish government.

“I have been nominated by my country, but I am not here as representative of my country”, Sinirlioğlu said.

The statement addressed the distinction between a government nominating a candidate and that candidate serving as an independent international official.

Geography and Gender Shape Selection

The reported candidates represent Costa Rica, Argentina, Guyana, the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye, placing geographical representation alongside diplomatic support in the succession discussions.

Grynspan, Rodrigues-Birkett and Nusseibeh are women, while Grossi and Sinirlioğlu are men. Their participation also brings gender representation into a selection process historically dominated by male officeholders.

Geographical rotation and gender balance are considerations in the leadership debate, although neither overrides the Security Council’s formal recommendation procedure.

The results do not establish how individual Council members weighed those considerations when casting their ballots.

General Assembly Holds Final Authority

The appointment process requires a Security Council recommendation before the General Assembly makes its final decision.

Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the General Assembly appoints the Secretary-General upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

The informal straw polls help members assess support and opposition before deciding whether a candidate can advance through that formal procedure. A strong informal result does not itself constitute an appointment.

The selection process will determine who succeeds António Guterres as United Nations Secretary-General.

No confirmed date for a formal Security Council recommendation or General Assembly appointment vote has been announced.