The sixth round of voting for the UN Secretary-General is still stuck due to opposition from the permanent members

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will end his two-term, 10-year term this year. The Security Council held an intention vote on the 16th to select the 10th Secretary-General during a period of global turmoil. However, in the latest round of voting, all seven candidates on the table received "discouraging votes" equivalent to vetoes from some permanent members of the Security Council, and the prospects are still unclear.

Security Council intention voting began in the early 1980s as a mechanism to break the deadlock between two candidates. Even though it has been criticized from time to time, the lack of transparency in the process continues to this day. During the process, the 15 Security Council member states will cast votes of "encourage", "disencourage" or "no opinion" for each candidate. As long as a candidate can obtain 9 votes and is not opposed by any of the permanent members of the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and the United States, the candidate will be nominated to the United Nations General Assembly for confirmation by all member states.

In the first five rounds of voting, Rebeca Grynspan, the former Vice President of Costa Rica, who was the most recognized, continued to lead in the sixth round of voting, receiving 9 encouraging votes. However, the top three candidates, including Alan Greenspan, all had two votes, and for the first time the "discourage" votes for the permanent members' intentions were distinguished in red. The other four candidates were also opposed by some permanent members.