Six candidates vying to become the next United Nations Secretary-General are set to participate in a 90-minute televised debate on Thursday at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York, one week before the Security Council begins the formal process of selecting a successor to António Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31, 2026. The event will be broadcast by Bloomberg and is expected to give the global public a rare opportunity to hear directly from the contenders.
The candidates are Michelle Bachelet of Chile, MarÃa Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, and former Senegalese President Macky Sall. During the debate, they will answer questions from diplomats, UN staff and representatives of civil society while outlining their vision for leading the organisation through mounting political, financial and humanitarian challenges.
President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock described the town hall as an important opportunity for member states and the wider public to evaluate the candidates’ leadership qualities and priorities. The debate comes after each candidate had already undergone several hours of questioning by representatives of the UN’s 193 member states as part of the selection process.
The 15-member UN Security Council is scheduled to hold its first confidential straw poll on July 30, marking the beginning of a series of informal votes that will continue until one candidate secures at least nine votes without being vetoed by any of the Council’s five permanent members. The successful nominee will then be recommended to the General Assembly for formal appointment and is expected to assume office on January 1, 2027.
Although no clear frontrunner has emerged, analysts say Rafael Grossi, Rebeca Grynspan, and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett are among the candidates receiving considerable diplomatic attention. Many member states are also calling for the UN to appoint its first female Secretary-General, while Latin America argues that regional rotation favours one of its candidates for the organisation’s top job.
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