Clark comes sixth in first 'straw poll' for top UN post

Speculation that the next UN Secretary-General will be a woman is wide of the mark but an eastern European looks a good bet, if an Associated Press report is any guide.

The US news agency says the results of the first “straw poll” by the Security Council put two men – former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres and Slovenia's former president Danilo Turk – as the front-runners.

They are followed by three candidates, who have the same support for third place – Unesco head Irina Bokova, of Bulgaria; Serbia's former foreign minister Vuk Jeremic; and former Macedonian foreign minister Srgjan Kerim. (The last two are men.)

New Zealand’s Helen Clark is the sixth most favoured candidate, which must dampen hopes fired up by her recent performance in the Al Jazeera televised debate.

The AP report says 15 council members decided not to reveal the results of their voting to "encourage," ''discourage" or express "no opinion" about the 12 declared candidates – unlike the informal "straw" polls 10 years ago, which were made public and led to Ban Ki-moon's election to the world's top diplomatic post.

The results of this poll are by no means the last word. Ms Clark received eight “encourage” votes to Ms Bokova’s nine.

The eastern European nations, led by Russia, argue they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn. Meanwhile, a group of 56 nations is campaigning to select the first female for the job.

Four candidates likely to drop out
The poll also delivered a blow to another woman, Argentina's foreign minister, Susanna Malcorra, who is a former chief-of-staff to Mr Ban. She finished behind Ms Clark, sources told the AP.

Front-runner Mr Guterres, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees until the end of last year, received 12 "encourage" votes and three "no opinion" votes.

Mr Turk also has UN credentials. He was Slovenia's first UN ambassador from 1992-2000 and was the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs from 2000-05. He received 11 "encourage" votes, two "discourage" and two "no opinion."

Four candidates are likely to drop out fairly quickly. Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pucic received 11 "discourage" votes, the most of the 12 candidates.

Three other candidates at the bottom of the list are Christiana Figueres, of Costa Rica; former Moldovan foreign minister Natalia Gherman; and Montenegro's foreign minister, Igor Luksic.

One potential candidate, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, has yet to be officially nominated. This is expected next week after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull indicated the government would support the nomination but not actively campaign for Mr Rudd.

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