UN Security Council holds 3rd straw poll on secretary-general candidates

China

UN Security Council holds 3rd straw poll on secretary-general candidates

2026-09-19 05:41 Last Updated At：09:17

The UN Security Council on Friday held its third straw poll on the candidates for the next UN secretary-general.

The candidates will be informed of the results through the respective permanent representatives of their nominating member states, Jerome Bonnafont, the UN ambassador of France, told reporters after the conclusion of the secret vote. France holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of September.

Security Council straw polls on secretary-general candidates are informal closed-door ballots used to determine the viability of the candidates, whose results are not officially released. Through straw polls, the Security Council selects a candidate to recommend to the General Assembly for appointment as the next UN secretary-general.

However, Friday's straw poll results were leaked.

Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica and current secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, led Friday's poll with nine votes in favor, according to "1 for 8 Billion," a global campaign advocating a fair, open and inclusive process to appoint the first woman UN secretary-general. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's permanent representative to the United Nations, followed with eight votes.

Grynspan got five negative votes, and Rodrigues-Birkett got six negative votes, according to "1 for 8 Billion."

Security Council members were believed to receive one ballot per candidate, containing the candidate's name followed by three options: "encouraged," "discouraged," and "no opinion expressed," according to "What's in Blue," a publication which provides insights on evolving Security Council actions.

In the first straw poll on July 30, Grynspan won 10 votes in favor, followed by Rodrigues-Birkett, with nine votes in favor. In the second round on Aug. 21, however, they swapped places. Rodrigues-Birkett led by eight votes in favor, followed by Grynspan with seven votes in favor.

In the third straw poll, negative votes grew for both candidates.

The remaining six candidates are: Ivonne A-Baki, a former Ecuadoran minister and a diplomat; Michelle Bachelet, a former Chilean president and former UN high commissioner for human rights; Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former UN General Assembly president and former foreign minister and defense minister of Ecuador; Rafael Grossi of Argentina, current director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Olara Otunnu of Uganda, a former UN under-secretary-general; Macky Sall, a former president of Senegal.

Current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' term of office expires at the end of this year. The next secretary-general will take over the role on Jan. 1, 2027.

China's general public budget revenue up 5.7 pct in first eight months

China's general public budget revenue reached 15.66 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2026, up 5.7 percent year on year, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance on Friday. The central general public budget revenue increased 9.1 percent year on year to 7.0118 trillion yuan, while the local general public budget revenue increased 3.1 percent year on year to 8.6515 trillion yuan.

Tax revenue climbed 6.6 percent year on year to 12.91 trillion yuan in the period.

Domestic value-added tax rose 5.9 percent, driven by continuous growth in the industrial and service sectors and an upward trend in factory-gate prices, while corporate income tax grew 7.3 percent on the back of rapid profit growth. Meanwhile, value-added tax and consumption tax on imported goods increased 12.6 percent, driven by rapid import growth.

A total of 1.65 trillion yuan was refunded for value-added tax and consumption tax on exported goods, an increase of 70.7 billion yuan compared with the same period last year. By region, the revenues of eastern, central, western and northeastern regions increased 3.2 percent, 1.4 percent, 4.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

From January to August this year, China's national general public budget expenditure reached 18.15 trillion yuan, up 1.2 percent year on year. Expenditures on public well-being grew rapidly in the eight-month period, with social security and employment spending rising 6.5 percent and health care outlays increasing 9.2 percent.