India Calls for Transparency and Choice in Electing UN Secretary-General

UNITED NATIONS: India has called for drastic reforms in the election of the secretary-general to introduce transparency and choice in the process of picking a successor to Ban Ki-moon next year and said it should not be a prerogative of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

United Nations. ReutersUnited Nations. Reuters

India's delegate Bhartruhari Mahtab told the Security Council on Tuesday that the secret straw polls in the Council should be done away with and discussions should be held in open sessions with the secretary-general providing a summary of the proceedings. Moreover, the Security Council should recommend a slate of two or more candidates on whom the General Assembly can vote, he said.

The UN Charter only says that the secretary-general should be appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council and a 1946 General Assembly resolution added a provision that only one candidate should be recommended and a debate should be avoided.

This has morphed into an arcane process in which the Security Council members vote on candidate with colour-coded ballots -- one colour for permanent members and another for the others. A ballot in the colour of the permanent members automatically results in a veto of a candidate while it won't be known who cast the veto.

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