The public hearing for the next United Nations (UN) secretary-general ended on the 22nd (local time) with only four candidates participating. That is one-third the number compared with 10 years ago, when 13 candidates vied for the post that went to the current secretary-general, António Guterres. Seven of the candidates then were women. Experts said it signals the UN's standing is collapsing.
Over two days from the 21st to the 22nd of this month, four secretary-general candidates stood at UN headquarters in New York: former Chile President Michelle Bachelet, 74; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi of Argentina, 65; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, 70; and former Senegal President Macky Sall, 64. The new secretary-general will begin a five-year term on Jan. 1, 2027.
By regional rotation custom, a candidate from Latin America is favored to become the next secretary-general. Three of the four candidates are from the region. There is also an unwritten rule of not choosing nationals of permanent members of the Security Council. If these two customs align, the race narrows to a three-way contest among Grossi, Bachelet and Grynspan.
Director General Grossi is seen as the current front-runner. The foreign affairs outlet Foreign Policy (FP) named him the top pick, saying Argentina, Italy and Paraguay are jointly endorsing him. Grossi is a diplomat with more than 40 years of experience and speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian. While leading the International Atomic Energy Agency, he oversaw inspections at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and steered talks on Iran's nuclear program. In his vision statement, Grossi said, "The world still needs the UN. But it must be a UN that works." Experts assessed that he has proved his crisis-management ability by handling sensitive nuclear security sites with flexibility. However, U.S. conservatives criticized him for a "lack of hardline response" on the Iran nuclear issue.
Former President Bachelet carries the greatest symbolism. She served twice as Chile's first woman president, was the inaugural head of UN Women, and served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. If elected, Bachelet would become the first female UN secretary-general in the organization's 80-year history. In opening remarks at the hearing on the 21st, Bachelet greeted "good morning" in all six UN official languages—Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian—to seek support. Bachelet is not receiving support in her home country Chile due to political issues. In March this year, the right-leaning José Antonio Kast government in Chile withdrew its support for Bachelet. However, Brazil and Mexico, the largest economies in Latin America, are jointly endorsing Bachelet.
In diplomatic circles, the United States was cited as the biggest variable for a Bachelet victory. In March this year, 28 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeling Bachelet "an extremist who supports abortion" and urging a veto. The U.S. ambassador to the UN also recently signaled opposition, saying, "We share concerns about Bachelet's suitability to serve as secretary-general."
As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bachelet visited China's Xinjiang Uyghur region but drew backlash from the United States and other Western blocs for a cautious stance on condemning human rights abuses. At the same time, she pushed ahead, just before the end of her term, with the release of a Xinjiang human rights report that specified "crimes against humanity," prompting fierce criticism from China as well. She is a candidate likely to draw no votes from both the United States and China, which are permanent members of the Security Council.
Secretary-General Grynspan is an economist who served as Costa Rica's vice president. She was born into a Jewish family that fled Poland after World War II and settled in Costa Rica. In a Reuters interview, she said, "Peacemaking is the UN's purpose," adding, "I will be a secretary-general who picks up the phone first and goes to the field before war breaks out." In response to India's questions, she pledged Security Council reform and expanded representation for the global South. The global South is a term referring broadly to developing countries in regions such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere and the low latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
The only candidate from outside Latin America, former President Sall led Senegal for 12 years from 2012 to 2024. A geologist by training and the son of a peanut trader, he is a self-made figure who pledged African development and support for debtor nations. If elected, he would become the third UN secretary-general from Africa, after Egypt and Ghana. However, his only formal endorsing country is Burundi. Efforts to extend his presidential term drew accusations of a constitutional coup, and even his home country Senegal and Nigeria have withheld support.
The next secretary-general must shoulder two roles at once: peacemaker and restructuring manager. The UN Security Council has been unable to mount a meaningful response to the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran, blocked by permanent members' vetoes.
U.S. President Donald Trump belittled the UN as "a club where people just get together and talk." In his speech to the General Assembly last year, Trump also directly criticized multilateral cooperation and the climate agenda. In a Reuters interview in January this year, he said "the UN's potential is great," but maintained that "the current organization has failed." That is read as a signal that unless the UN revises its current system, the United States will step back or reduce its role within the UN.
The same mood was evident at the hearing over the two days. Of the five permanent members of the Security Council, only the United Kingdom and Russia posed questions. The United States, China and France offered neither support nor questions to any candidate and stayed silent. It is a sign that the major powers are postponing judgment altogether.
The finances are also near collapse. Secretary-General Guterres warned several times early this year that "the UN faces the risk of imminent financial collapse." The UN's regular budget for 2026 is $3.45 billion, about 7% lower than the previous year (about 5.13 trillion won). The United States, the largest contributor, has piled up billions of dollars in arrears on both the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget.
Daniel Forti, Director General for UN issues at the International Crisis Group (ICG), wrote in a recent column that "the essence of this secretary-general election is not a contest of personalities, but a collective test of whether the UN is still a useful institution," adding, "There has never been a moment when a secretary-general who can present a clear and proactive vision for peacebuilding and crisis management was more urgently needed."