Tharoor second in third UN poll too

NEW DELHI: India’s quest to see an Indian as the UN secretary-general seemed to be getting more difficult with Shashi Tharoor coming second after South Korean foreign minister Ban ki Moon in a third straw poll at the UN. In fact, Mr Tharoor’s popularity seemed to be dipping after he got only 8 positive votes in the straw poll among the 15 member Security Council members, according to reports, while in the last straw poll, he polled 10 positive votes.

Mr Tharoor, currently UN undersecretary-general for public information, got three against and four undecided, while Ban Ki-Moon, who is seen as the front-runner to take over from secretary general Kofi Annan, came first with 13 positive votes, one against and one undecided. Mr Ban’s vote also went down by one from the last straw poll.

Officials here said that though the going now looks tough for India’s candidate, it wasn’t all over as yet. They say that if Mr Moon’s one negative vote is from a veto-yielding permanent member, then the race would be still on. Neither the US nor China have publicly extended support for any of the candidates though Mr Moon is known to be close to the US.
At this point, any candidate would be out of the race if a permanent member decides to use its veto. And the real test, officials say, will be next week when the permanent members will be given different coloured ballots. That will reveal if any permanent members voted against Mr Moon.

To be recommended by the Security Council to the General Assembly, a candidate needs to get at least nine votes in the 15-member Security Council without any vetos. And only one candidate can be recommended by the council to the General Assembly.

Mr Tharoor, who has been visiting a number of countries in his election bid, has remained second in the last two straw polls also. A defeat for Mr Tharoor at this point would mean that his long career at the UN will come to an end. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan’s term ends on December 31.

Meanwhile, Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga came third with seven positive votes and former Thai deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai got five positives. Prince Zeid Raad al Hussein of Jordan, Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan and Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka got only three positive votes each.The Asian countries believe that this time round, the UN secretary general should be from an Asian country.