United Nations, August 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The administration of US President Donald Trump has clashed with UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock over her calls for greater transparency in the selection of the next United Nations Secretary-General, accusing her of attempting to undermine the process.
The dispute highlights a longstanding tension between the UN Security Council’s five permanent members and the wider 193-member General Assembly over how the world body’s top official should be chosen.
The US criticism came ahead of the second straw poll by the Security Council on Friday to gauge support for eight candidates seeking to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term ends this year.
Speaking at the Security Council on Wednesday, US delegate Jennifer Locetta said Washington took “exceptional issue” with what she described as the General Assembly President’s “overreach and irresponsible actions”.
The selection process gives the Security Council’s permanent members — the US, Russia, China, France and the UK — significant influence because any of them can veto a candidate. The General Assembly subsequently votes on the candidate recommended by the Council, a process that has traditionally involved limited competition after the Council reaches an agreement.
Baerbock has called for greater transparency, fairness and inclusion in the process. Locetta criticised two letters she sent to the Council, saying one appeared to imply that the Council had acted improperly and another urged it not to consider candidates who had not appeared before the General Assembly.
Russia, despite its broader disputes with Washington, also backed the US position. Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Baerbock had overstepped her role.
Locetta also criticised an informal audience poll conducted following a General Assembly town hall featuring the candidates, organised with Bloomberg. She argued that most participants had no official role in selecting the Secretary-General and called the exercise unfair and unprecedented.
Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett received 49 votes in the audience poll, followed by UNCTAD chief Rebecca Grynspan with 14 and former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa with 10.
In the previous Security Council straw poll, Grynspan led with 10 positive votes, one negative and four neutral votes, while Rodrigues-Birkett received nine positive, two negative and four neutral votes.
Further straw polls are expected before the final stage, when votes from permanent members will be colour-coded while remaining anonymous. The process is expected to conclude when a candidate secures at least nine votes without receiving a veto from any permanent member.
Two candidates have entered the race since the previous straw poll: Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki, nominated by Tonga, and Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Other candidates include former Senegalese President Macky Sall, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi of Argentina, and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
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