Greenspan leads as Türkiye's Sinirlioğlu enters UN chief race

Türkiye's candidate for UN secretary-general, Feridun Sinirlioğlu, received 3 votes in favor and 8 against in the Security Council's unofficial vote on November 5. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it remains Latin America's turn to nominate the secretary-general.

RuskiGazeta Editorial DeskNovember 06, 2026, 10:53 AMUpdated: November 06, 2026, 12:46 PM

Greenspan leads as Türkiye's Sinirlioğlu enters UN chief race

Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the OSCE secretary-general whom Türkiye nominated for the post of UN secretary-general, took part for the first time in the Security Council's unofficial ranking vote. PassBlue and The National reported that on November 5, three Security Council members backed him, eight opposed him and four expressed no opinion.

It was the eighth round of such votes. The results are not officially published, but they regularly become known to journalists. Latvia's permanent representative, Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, whose country holds the Security Council presidency in November, confirmed that the vote had taken place but did not disclose the results.

Moscow's position

Kirill Logvinov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations, told TASS that Moscow continues to follow the informal principle of geographic representation: in the current cycle, it is Latin American and Caribbean countries' turn to nominate candidates.

“At the very beginning of the election race, we promised our Latin American partners that we would respect this tradition,” Logvinov said. He added that if none of the candidates from the region passes the indicative votes, Russia would be ready to consider candidates from other regional groups.

Logvinov also noted that consultations among the permanent members of the Security Council had become more frequent.

Grynspan leads

Гендиректор МАГАТЭ Рафаэль Гросси, также претендующий на пост генсека ООН, на заседании Совбеза ООН (апрель 2024 года)

Costa Rica's candidate, Rebeca Grynspan, again received the most support, with 12 votes in favor and 3 against. Argentine Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, came second with 9 votes in favor, followed by Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett with 8. The United Arab Emirates' candidate, Lana Nusseibeh, received 7 votes in support.

The vote was held without color-coded ballots, so it is unknown whether any of the votes against the candidates came from the permanent members—Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom and France. A candidate needs at least nine votes and no veto to be nominated.

Sinirlioğlu will address the UN General Assembly on November 6 during an interactive dialogue with member states and will hold an informal meeting with Security Council members on November 9. António Guterres's term ends on December 31.

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Greenspan leads as Türkiye's Sinirlioğlu enters UN chief race