UN Security Council holds seventh informal vote for new Secretary-General

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold its seventh informal straw poll on October 30, 2026, to determine the next Secretary-General. The session is taking place in New York at 13:30 local time under the Greek presidency of the Security Council. Seven candidates are participating in this round, including the latest entrant, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh from the United Arab Emirates.

The voting process uses uniform ballots for all members, marking a return to the procedure used before the sixth round, which had utilized color-coded ballots to distinguish between the votes of the five permanent members and the ten elected members. These informal polls are designed to gauge the level of support for each candidate among the member states.

The final goal of these ongoing informal assessments is for the Security Council to reach a consensus before issuing an official recommendation to the General Assembly through a formal resolution adopted in a private session. While the process has been ongoing, there is currently no clear consensus among the members regarding a preferred candidate.