Senegal's Macky Sall withdraws from race for UN Secretary-General

Former Senegalese President Macky Sall withdrew on Saturday 17 October from the race to succeed António Guterres as UN Secretary-General, a day after an informal straw poll in the UN Security Council produced no clear favourite.

In a statement, Sall said he hoped “to contribute now to the emergence of a consensus candidate”. He said test votes pointed to a candidate, “perhaps female”, from Latin America and the Caribbean, AFP reported.

All seven candidates received at least one “discourage” vote from a permanent Security Council member in Friday’s anonymous poll, AFP reported. Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan received the most “encourage” votes but also five “discourage” votes, including two from permanent members.

Candidates need nine votes from the council’s 15 members and no veto from the five permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The straw polls are not binding.

Sall’s withdrawal leaves Uganda’s Olara Otunnu as the only African candidate, Africanews reported. The other remaining candidates are Grynspan, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, who heads the UN nuclear watchdog, Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Ivonne A-Baki and María Fernanda Espinosa. AFP said US media reports suggest Washington opposes all seven original contenders.

Guterres’s second five-year term ends on 31 December.