Despite there being calls for the next United Nations chief to be a woman and/or from Eastern Europe, Portugal’s Antonio Guterres cruised to victory in the secretary-general race.
Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal and head of UN refugee agency UNHCR, emerged victorious in all six straw polls conducted prior to the final vote. The UN Security Council then unanimously selected him to replace outgoing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
EU budget chief Kristalina Georgieva, whom Bulgaria nominated at the 11th hour, performed poorly in the lone straw poll in which she participated. Georgieva received five encourage votes and eight discourage votes, two of which reportedly came from veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China.
Guterres will begin a five-year term as secretary-general on Jan. 1, 2017.