UN Secretary General António Guterres is welcomed by Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer to 10 Downing Street, London, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)
The race to succeed UN Secretary-General António Guterres officially begins on Thursday as the UN Security Council holds its first closed-door straw poll, the opening step in selecting the organization’s next leader.
Seven candidates from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Senegal, and Uganda are competing to replace Guterres, whose second five-year term ends this year. With no clear frontrunner, diplomats expect several rounds of voting before the Security Council settles on a candidate to recommend to the UN General Assembly.
The next secretary-general will inherit a United Nations facing growing criticism over its effectiveness, mounting pressure to reform its bureaucracy, and major global crises ranging from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine to escalating rivalry among the world’s major powers.
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