Third Straw Poll for UN Top Jop Due on Monday

Another straw poll scheduled as part of the race for the United Nations chief's office is to take place on August 29, Monday.

The fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council are set to vote on each one of the contenders using three options: "encourage", "discourage", or "no opinion".

The new vote behind closed doors comes after the two previous ones on July 21 and August 05 have single out Antonio Guterres, former Portuguese Prime Minister, as the most preferred candidate.

Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian contender who had for some time been described as a frontrunner in the race to replace Ban Ki-moon, ranked third and fifth in the two votes, respectively.

While the poll results are not binding on the United Nations General Assembly, which will have to approve the final nomination of the UNSC, the latter is holding the votes party with the aim to discourage some candidates from running.

Two of these, Montenegro's Foreign Minister Igor Luk?i? and his former Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusi?, have pulled out of the race since the straw polls began earlier this summer. Their moves leave the number of contenders currently vying to take over from Ban Ki-moon next year at ten, many of them from Eastern Europe.

Russia has been pushing for a Eastern European choice, citing an informally agreed principle of regional rotation of UN Secretary Generals according to which it is this part of the world's turn to fill the vacancy.

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