United Nations Assembly re-elected António Guterres as Secretary-General for another five-year term

The UN General Assembly confirmed on Friday that the Portuguese António Guterres to remain head of the United Nations for another five years, after receiving the blessing of powers from the Security Council on June 8.

“I have the honor to announce that His Excellency António Guterres has been appointed by acclamation Secretary-General of the United Nations for a second term, which will begin on January 1, 2022 and end on December 31, 2026 ”, announced the Chairman of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, after a general standing ovation from the representatives of the UN countries.

Guterres, against whom no country has raised another alternative, took over the general secretariat in January 2017, after defeating a large number of candidates, including internationally recognized personalities such as the current Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, or the one who was then Director General of Unesco, Irina Bokova.

Before being elected by acclamation, Bozkir recalled that on February 21, Portugal, through its permanent representative to the UN, presented Guterres’ candidacy for re-election and “no other Member State submitted a candidate”.

Although several people have applied and campaigned in recent months, none has been formally proposed by a Member State, their names were therefore not taken into account.

The President-in-Office of the Security Council, the Estonian Sven Jürgenson, also intervened moments before the Assembly reaffirmed its confidence in Guterres to insist on the support of the highest UN authority for the Portuguese diplomat.

“Security Council members expressed their unconditional support for Mr. António Guterres“Said Jürgenson, stressing that the work of the secretary general responds to”the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity“O”a strong commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations”.

His re-election, far from being a surprise, it was considered the logical step in the body given that for decades all the heads of the United Nations served two terms, with the exception of the Egyptian Butros Gali, whose re-election was vetoed in 1996 by the United States.

(With information from EFE)

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