In a letter released yesterday, 1 for 7 Billion called on P5 members to identify themselves during a formal ballot should their negative vote prevent an otherwise successful candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General receiving the minimum number of nine positive votes - the threshold necessary for endorsement as the Security Council’s preferred choice.
“It is now time that the Security Council and especially its five permanent members step up to the mark and act in the spirit of openness and transparency that has brought historic improvements to the manner in which the UN selects its candidates”
Yvonne Terlingen, 1 for 7 Billion representative
All members of the Council committed themselves to applying the principle of transparency to the selection process when the General Assembly adopted landmark resolution 69/321 last year.
In the same spirit, the campaign urged the Security Council, in its letter to P5 ambassadors, to end their practice of not announcing the outcome of straw polls (all of which have been leaked to the media shortly after each poll). 1 for 7 Billion also encouraged the P5 members to identify themselves in forthcoming ‘colour coded’ polls that will distinguish between veto carrying and elected Council members, and to justify any negative votes against leading candidates receiving the minimum number of nine "encourage" votes.
With speculation rife about horse trading with candidates, 1 for 7 Billion also reasserted its position that ‘no Council member should extract promises from candidates on senior posts in exchange for support, as has been the case in the past: any Council member doing so would act in contravention of the letter and spirit of the Charter.'
“At this time of horrific, multiple, and very complex global challenges, the world needs UN leadership of the highest calibre and character. It is crucial that the new Secretary-General will be able to select the strongest leadership team, appointed not as a result of political deal-making, but solely on the basis of who would be the most qualified, able and effective female or male candidate of any of the world's regions”
Bill Pace, 1 for 7 Billion representative