Rebeca Grynspan leads seventh straw poll for next UN Secretary-General

On October 30, 2026, the United Nations Security Council conducted its seventh informal straw poll to select the next Secretary-General. The session was held under the Greek presidency in New York. The process saw the entry of a new candidate, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh from the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total number of contenders to seven.

Rebeca Grynspan emerged as the front-runner, securing 11 encouragement votes against 4 discouragement votes. Rafael Grossi followed with 9 encouragement votes, while Caroline Rodriguez Birkett received 8. Lana Nusseibeh, in her debut, garnered 7 encouragement votes and 6 discouragement votes. Other candidates, including Olara Otunnu, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and Yvonne A-Baki, received significantly lower levels of support. The ballot was conducted using unified papers without color coding to distinguish between permanent and elected members.

These informal polls aim to assess consensus before the Security Council makes its formal recommendation to the General Assembly, as outlined in Article 97 of the UN Charter. Counting duties for this round were performed by Latvia and the United Kingdom. Future developments may include the formal entry of new candidates, such as Turkey's potential nomination of Feridun Sinirlioglu next week, as the selection process continues toward a final decision.