UNSC straw poll: Tharoor finishes close runner-up
UN Secretary-General aspirant Shashi Tharoor has come in second in an informal straw poll held by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon got the highest support, while Mr Tharoor was second, behind by...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: UN Secretary-General aspirant Shashi Tharoor has come in second in an informal straw poll held by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon got the highest support, while Mr Tharoor was second, behind by two votes.
The third and fourth spot was bagged by ASEAN nominee Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Sri Lanka’s candidate Jayantha Dhanapala respectively.
The informal vote is good news for Mr Tharoor’s candidacy, which was only announced recently, while the other candidates have been in the fray for much longer. The vote also comes as something of a boost for South Block strategy since India has been batting on two fronts, the UNSG post and a permanent seat for India in the Security Council.
The poll is the beginning of the selection process for the new UN secretary general, the process ends in October when the tenure of the current UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, comes to an end.
Under the voting pattern, according to reports, the ballot had three options — ‘encourage,’ ‘discourage’ and ‘no opinion’ — for each candidate, with the UNSC members required to tick one. Mr Tharoor got ten ‘encouragements,’ two ‘discouragements’ and three ‘no opinions.’
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Mr Ban got 12, one and three votes in each respective category while Mr Dhanapala had five ‘encouragements’ but got six ‘discouragements’ and four ‘no opinions.’ Each council member voted separately and could tick the same category for more than one candidate. India, through diplomatic channels, has been pushing hard for Mr Tharoor. At the recent G-8 summit which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended, diplomats had gone about garnering support from permanent members of the Security Council for Mr Tharoor’s candidature. The 50-year-old career UN diplomat and author, who has been working for the UN since the age of 22 is the highest ranking Indian in the UN.
Mr Tharoor’s campaign in July had covered almost ten members of the UNSC. He had addressed the African Union summit that included Ghana, Tanzania and Congo, the three UNSC members. And at the G-8 summit, the Tharoor campaign had covered five permanent and three non-permanent members.
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