Top UN post: Clark remains seventh out of 10 candidates

Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres again topped the third straw poll of candidates seeking to succeed Ban Ki-Moon as the next UN secretary-general.

The latest vote among the 15 members of the Security Council also diminished hopes of a woman being appointed to the post and further dashed former prime minister Helen Clark’s chances.

Despite home-team barrackers in the local media and among politicians, Ms Clark remains lowly rated at seventh among the 10 candidates still in the race.

No woman has placed above third in any of the polls though they make up half of the candidates.

Slovakia's Foreign Minister, Miroslav Lajcak, was the big surprise – jumping to second place after finishing next to last in the second poll.

The leading female candidate, Bulgarian Irina Bokova, who heads Unesco, and Serbia's former foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, were tied in third place followed by Argentinian Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra.

In sixth place was former Macedonian foreign minister Srgjan Kerim followed by Ms Clark, who heads the UN Development Programme, and Slovenia's former president, Danilo Turk.

Mr Ban favours a woman
Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman and Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres, the UN official who played a key role in shaping last December's Paris agreement on global warming, tied for last.

Mr Ban, whose term expires on December 31, has said "it's high time now" for a woman to head the UN after eight men who have held the position. The UN policy of rotational appointments also means it's the eastern European bloc’s turn, though this is not cast in stone.

The Security Council will make a recommendation to the 193-member General Assembly with the five permanent members – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – having veto power over the candidates.

The UK ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, has urged the lowest polling candidates to withdraw, saying they should assess how they can get the required minimum of nine "yes" votes and no vetoes.

"If that's a long way off, then I think they should follow the two" candidates who have already dropped out, he says.

So far, none has done so.

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