Uganda’s candidate for United Nations Secretary-General, Ambassador Olara Otunnu, has moved into third place in the latest informal Security Council straw poll, overtaking Argentina’s Rafael Grossi as the race to replace António Guterres enters a critical stage.
The third secret poll was conducted on Friday by the 15-member UN Security Council, with candidates assessed through the confidential “encourage”, “discourage” and “no opinion” categories. The full official results were not publicly released, although figures circulating from the process show Otunnu ahead of Grossi.
Costa Rica’s former Vice President Rebeca Grynspan emerged as the latest frontrunner with nine “encourage” votes, followed closely by Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett with eight. Otunnu moved into third, marking a further improvement from the second straw poll in August when he had five “encourage” votes.
Otunnu, 75, was formally nominated by Uganda in July after President Yoweri Museveni endorsed his candidature and directed the government to mobilise international support for his bid.
He brings more than four decades of diplomatic and international experience, including service as Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the UN and as UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1998 to 2005.
His UN career is also closely connected to the Security Council’s own selection process. As Uganda’s ambassador to the UN in the early 1980s, Otunnu introduced an informal straw-poll mechanism to help break a deadlock over the appointment of a Secretary-General. The system became known as the “Otunnu Formula” and has since evolved into the mechanism being used to assess his own candidature.
In his campaign, Otunnu has called for reforms to strengthen the UN, greater efforts to resolve conflicts, a mechanism to address the implications of artificial intelligence and a balanced approach to climate action and economic development.
Uganda has mounted a diplomatic campaign around his candidature, with Museveni personally presenting Otunnu to representatives of Security Council members and describing him as an experienced statesman capable of leading the organisation amid mounting global challenges.
The current field has eight candidates. They include Grynspan, Rodrigues-Birkett, Grossi, former Senegalese President Macky Sall, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Ecuadorian diplomats María Fernanda Espinosa and Ivonne A-Baki, and Otunnu.
The Security Council will ultimately recommend one candidate to the UN General Assembly. The nominee must secure at least nine votes in the 15-member Council and avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
With Otunnu now among the leading candidates in the third poll, his campaign has gained visibility as Uganda seeks to secure the country’s first Secretary-General of the United Nations.