A possible UN role

A possible UN role
Support grows for Goh in race to take over as secretary-general. By David Nason, The Australian.
Jul 21, 2006

MOVES to have former Singaporean prime minister Goh Chok Tong succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary-general are gathering momentum in New York as the Security Council prepares to hold an informal "straw poll" for the candidates later this week.
The vote, tentatively scheduled for tomorrow, will gauge the level of early support for the four officially declared Asian region candidates:
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* Former UN undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka;
* UN undersecretary-general for public information Shashi Tharoor of India;
* Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai; and
* South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.

But the vote won't preclude other candidates coming forward before the Security Council's final recommendation is made in September or October and speculation continues to surround Mr Goh, who is believed to have significant support among the nations of the Non-Aligned Movement.

So far, Mr Goh has given no indication of his intentions and, for now at least, is hamstrung by the fact that Dr Surakiart has been nominated by ASEAN, the Southeast Asian regional bloc that includes Singapore.

But if Dr Surakiart does badly in the straw poll and withdraws from the race, ASEAN would be free to propose another candidate.

However, Dr Surakiart has indicated to supporters that he intends to stay in the contest no matter what the outcome of the straw poll.

Mr Goh, an economist and social conservative known for his strong views on multi-racialism, meritocracy and terrorism, was prime minister of Singapore from 1990-2004.
In 2005, he was made an honorary Companion to the Order of Australia by John Howard for services to Australian-Singaporean relations.

A spokesman for Pakistan's influential UN ambassador, Munir Akram, confirmed NAM's interest in Mr Goh and said the group "wants to have its own position" on the new secretary-general, even though the selection process is controlled by the Security Council.

He said Mr Goh was being discussed as part of NAM's enduring concerns for "General Assembly revitalisation".
The straw poll will be a secret ballot of the 15-member council that comprises permanent members Britain, France, Russia, China and the US, and 10 non-permanent members - Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and the Slovak Republic.

It is designed to test the water and create conditions for unpopular nominees to withdraw and new nominees to enter the contest.
The ballot paper will allow the council members to indicate either "encouragement", "discouragement" or "no opinion" on each of the four candidates.

Each candidate will be told his own score and the top and bottom scores, but how each nation voted will remain a secret.
The process for selecting a new secretary-general involves the Security Council reviewing the nominations and forwarding a recommendation to the General Assembly, which then rubber-stamps the decision.

Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the successful nominee must receive at least nine votes and not be subject to a veto by any of the permanent five nations that, in reality, dominate the process.

China is expected to be the main player this time around because of the regional rotation system that decrees the next secretary-general must come from Asia.
At this stage none of the four nominated candidates has emerged a clear favorite, raising speculation that Mr Annan's successor is yet to enter the race.
The Australian