Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, 74, has dropped out of the race to become secretary-general of the United Nations. She announced the decision on Saturday in a video posted to her Instagram account.
"Today I announced that I have decided not to continue with my candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations," she said. Bachelet added that she would carry on with her international work "with the same determination as always".
What the straw poll showed
The withdrawal came a day after the Security Council's third informal straw poll, held on Friday. In these exercises, each of the Council's 15 members marks whether it encourages, discourages or expresses no opinion on each name.
Bachelet drew 1 encouraging vote, 11 discouraging votes and 3 abstentions, according to Al Jazeera. That is a sharp fall from the earlier rounds: she had 6 encouraging votes in July and 2 in August.
The trajectory of the number explains the decision better than any statement. A candidacy that loses support at every poll rarely recovers, because the Council uses precisely these rounds to narrow the field before the formal recommendation.
Who is left in the race
Seven candidates remain, according to Reuters. In Friday's poll, Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, led with 9 encouraging votes. Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett had 8.
Also still in contention are Argentina's Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), former Senegalese president Macky Sall and Ecuadorian diplomat María Fernanda Espinosa.
How the post is filled
To be recommended, a candidate needs at least 9 of the Security Council's 15 votes and no veto from any of the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Only then does the 193-member General Assembly hold the election, which has historically ratified the Council's choice.
Whoever wins takes over from António Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on 31 December 2026.
Bachelet governed Chile for two terms (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) and served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2018 and 2022. Her campaign had been built around a defence of multilateralism and international law — a platform that, judging by Friday's tally, found little echo in the Council.
With information from Al Jazeera and Reuters.
