Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova Ranks 3rd in First Vote for Next UN Chief

Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, came in third in the first-round secret vote at the UN Security Council to select the next UN Secretary-General, newswires reported on Thursday.

Bokova won nine “encourage” votes, edging out former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim, who tied for fourth, according to Reuters.

The 15 ambassadors to the Security Council rated the 12 candidates in the race with ballots marked "encourage," "discourage" or "no opinion."

Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, who was UN refugee agency chief for 10 years,won the top score of 12 "encourage" votes.

He fas followed by Slovenia's former president Danilo Turk, who won 11 encouragements, two "discourage" votes and three "no opinion," according to diplomats, AFP said.

Croatia's former foreign minister Vesna Pusic received 11 “discourage” votes from the council, the lowest score.

Council members are expected to meet again, possibly as early as next week, for a second round of straw polls, with a final nominee expected to emerge by October, according to AFP.