The Next UN Secretary-General

It is now common sense among states and experts that the UN is reorganising itself as it reflects upon its ability to meet the global challenges of today. The question for the next few months of 2026 is who will coordinate the next phase of the UN’s development. On January 1, 2027, a new Secretary-General will lead the UN, ending current Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres’s ten year term in office. The new Secretary-General will be responsible for advancing the UN80 initiative to reform the UN and launch the negotiations for a post-2030 sustainable development agenda.

Overview of selection process

The deliberations for the next UN Secretary-General begin months in advance. As per resolution 79/327 adopted by the UN General Assembly, the selection process is formally initiated in the last quarter of the year preceding the current Secretary-General’s term. The process is initiated through a joint letter from the President of the General Assembly and President of the Security Council addressed to Member States. The resolution affirms continued efforts to achieving gender and geographical balance with regards to the appointment of executive heads of the UN, including the Secretary-General. An informal rotation of geography has been practiced by Member States. Currently, the position is being sought by Latin America. The last UN Secretary-General from the region was Javier Pérez de Cuéllar from Peru, who held the position from 1982 to 1991.

Candidates are nominated by Member States or a group of Member States through a letter to the President of the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council. Member States may only nominate one candidate, individually or jointly. The candidate provides a vision statement, curriculum vitae, and campaign financing disclosures 

Candidates will have opportunities for informal dialogues with Member States. This was a new innovation in the current selection process that was in line with principles of transparency and inclusivity as set out in the letter initiating the selection process. A Town Hall took place on 23 July 2026, where all the candidates participated in a debate. The interactive dialogues and town hall will take place before the Security Council begins closed-door negotiations at the end of July 2026. The closed-door negotiations include multiple rounds of ‘straw poll’ voting, where UNSC members vote anonymously on whether they ‘encourage’, ‘discourage’, or have ‘no opinion’ on each candidate. The straw polls allow for the Security Council to ensure that a consensus emerges before formal voting takes place.  The candidate will need to secure nine votes, with no veto from permanent members, to be recommended by the Security Council. The Secretary-General is then appointed by the General Assembly by majority vote upon the recommendation of the Security Council. This follows Article 97 of the UN Charter. 

Current Secretary-General Race

As of July 2026, there are 7 candidates for the Secretary-General position:

• Michelle Bachelet Jeria, nominated by Brazil, Mexico, and Chile (the latter withdrew their nomination). Michelle Bachelet is the former President of Chile and was the first and, to date, only woman to hold this position. Bachelet has led the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and UN Women. She has also held strategic roles at the COP30, World Bank, and International Labour Organisation. Michelle Bachelet’s focus for her tenure is on institutional reform with prevention at the centre of the UN’s agenda; reconnecting with people; reaffirming the founding principles of the UN; and designing the future with a collective vision that promotes cooperation. Bachelet’s goal for the UN is to position it as an institution that ‘does not merely administer the present, but transforms it’.
• María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, nominated by Antigua and Barbuda. María Fernanda Espinosa is the former President of the UN General Assembly for the 73rd session and first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to hold this position. Fernanda Espinosa has also been the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of National Defence for Ecuador. She was Ecuador’s first female Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, and first female Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. Maria Fernanda Espinosa’s vision focuses on five pillars: peace and security, development, digital and energy transformation, closing the delivery gap, and rebuilding credibility. Her goal for the UN is to rebuild it to be focused on results.
• Rafael Mariano Grossi, nominated by Argentina. Rafael Grossi has been the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency since 2019. He previously served as the Ambassador of Argentina to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia, and Argentina’s representative to Vienna-based International Organizations. Grossi’s vision centres five priorities: effective action for peace and security; development through realistic solutions and collaborative partnerships; human rights and human dignity as cornerstones of peace; modern management and institutional renewal; and principled, pragmatic multilateralism.
• Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, nominated by Costa Rica. Rebeca Grynspan is currently the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and is the first woman to hold this role. Grynspan coordinated the UN task team of the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, set up by the United Nations following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. She is the former Vice-President of Costa Rica. Grayspan’s vision for the Secretary-General is built on three priorities: durable peace and security; delivering results; and building for the future. Grynspan’s vision for the UN is to make it more useful, agile, and accountable to the governments and peoples it serves.
• Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, nominated by Guyana. Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett is the Permanent Representative to Guyana to the United Nations. She has previously held roles in the Food and Agriculture Organization and served as Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Cooperation. Her vision as Secretary-General is laid out in three priorities: reasserting the UN’s core principles and purposes; reforming its systems and practices; and rallying towards the goal of a more agile and effective United Nations.
• Macky Sall, nominated by Burundi. Macky Sall is the former President of Senegal. Sall previously served as the Chair of the African Union and Chair of ECOWAS. Sall’s vision for Secretary-General is guided by three pillars: no peace without development; a new world, a new governance; and a United Nations that works. Sall’s goal for the UN is to rebuild multilateralism for a better world.
• Olara Otunnu, nominated by Uganda. Olara Otunnu was previously the Under-Secretary-General for the UN under Kofi Annan from 1998-2005, and served as the first Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. His vision for the UN is built around 10 issue areas. Otunnu has claimed that the straw polls system used by the Security Council was developed by him during the time he served as the rotating President of the UN Security Council. Olara Otunnu is a late entry, having been nominated just before the Security Council is to have its closed-door discussions, and concerns were raised about including Otunnu in the first round of straw polls, given that he had not participated in any open dialogues with Member States and civil society, as the other candidates had.

The 2026 selection process marks only the second time where the UN Secretary-General selection has been so publicly conducted with the distribution of candidates’ vision statements and CVs. The public nature of the selection process was shaped, in part, by the sustained efforts of civil society, notably the 1 for 8 Billion campaign, advocating for an open, inclusive and merit-based selection process for the UN Secretary-General. The campaign continues to call for a more open process, and has played a significant role in distributing information on the candidates.  

Unlike the last Secretary-General appointment, there are fewer candidates at this stage of the process, with only seven compared to the nine in 2016. In the joint letter by the Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council that opened the nominations process, the Presidents encouraged the nominations of women candidates, noting that a woman has not yet held the role of the chief administrative officer of the Organisation. This has been reflected in the candidates who have been nominated, with four out the seven being women. Other notable differences included the requirement for candidates to disclose their sources of funding, and that many of the candidates are not nationals of the Member States that nominated them.

Knowing that the UN faces a test of its relevance and capabilities, the interactive dialogues for the candidates focused on ‘proven leadership abilities, experience and skills for a strong and fit-for-the-future organisation’, in addition to the UN’s three core pillars of peace and security, development, and human rights. Following the open interactive sessions, the candidates will meet the UN Security Council. During the renewal of the second term of current Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, the Security Council had some press release elements, which made the selection process more open, suggesting this may be a possibility in the 2026 selection process.

As it stands, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi is considered as the favourite in Washington. However, Grossi faced questions about retaining his position at the International Atomic Energy Agency while campaigning for the Secretary-General position, as candidates were encouraged to suspend their current responsibilities to avoid a conflict of interest. Rebeca Grynspan is liked by civil society and many Member States, but experts suggest that it is less clear where the Security Council stands. Grynspan stepped down from her role as Secretary-General of UNCTAD. Michelle Bachelet faces opposition from the US due to her support for abortion, and Republican lawmakers are calling for the US to use its veto powers to block her candidacy. Macky Sall, and now Olara Otunni, are outliers of sorts, given that there is a general expectation that the next Secretary-General will come from the Latin America and Caribbean region. Sall’s campaign has received little support from African states and the African Union, while Otunnu’s inclusion late in the selection process may disadvantage more serious consideration 

The first round of straw polls saw Rebeca Grynspan emerge as the early frontrunner with 10 ‘encourage votes’, followed by Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett with nine votes, and the presumed favourite, Rafel Grossi coming in third with seven votes. There will be multiple rounds of votes until September or October, and it is still possible for additional candidates to be included in the selection.

Although there are calls from civil society, and support from a number of Member States, for a woman Secretary-General, this may not translate to reality, as was the case in the 2015/2016 selection process where there were similar calls. Some analysts argue that it may not even be desirable as this reinforces the ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon whereby women tend to be placed in senior leaderships roles at the moments of the institution’s crisis, which hinders both their abilities to act or attain any success, and reinforcing harmful narratives about women in leadership roles.

Analysts see the selection process for the new Secretary General as a litmus test for multilateralism in terms of whether the rules-based procedure can deliver a leader with political authority in the current fractures of geopolitics and shifting global power dynamics. For other analysts, the selection process will also be a litmus test within the UN system itself, particularly for the General Assembly, which may be called upon to take a more proactive role if the Security Council fails to agree on a candidate for Secretary General. The General Assembly has played a more significant role in peace and security issues in more recent years in light of the Security Council’s failure to act on issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Overall, the shifting dynamics of power will make the relationships in the Security Council, and between the Security Council and General Assembly, less predictable in the Secretary General selection process, and is thus worth paying close attention.

Whoever becomes the next Secretary-General will be responsible for directing the UN80 reforms, and demonstrating to growing criticism of the institution that the UN and the job of the Secretary-General does still matter. This is a difficult position for any candidate. The future of the UN requires bold action from the Security-General to challenge some of the power dynamics in the institution, yet the selection process remains beholden to those very powers. The hope is that the candidate that will take the Secretary-General’s office on 1 January 2027 can make the necessary bargains promoting change with those that prefer the status quo.