8 candidates, 5 veto powers and one top job: Who will succeed UN chief Antonio Guterres?

New York: Eight candidates, including five women and three men, are vying to succeed Antonio Guterres as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, at a time when the world body faces wars, geopolitical divisions and a severe financial crisis.

Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan emerged as the front-runner after the first informal straw poll, which was held to assess the level of support for the candidates. However, observers say the race remains wide open as major powers are divided over who should lead the UN.

The other contenders are Argentina's Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog; former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet; former Ecuadorian foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa; Guyana's former foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki; Uganda's former UN under-secretary-general Olara Otunnu; and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.

The next Secretary-General will need at least nine votes in the 15-member UN Security Council. The candidate must also avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia — before the name is submitted to the General Assembly for approval.

Here is a look at the candidates:

Rebeca Grynspan

Grynspan, 70, is Costa Rica's former vice president and currently heads the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She has taken leave from her UNCTAD duties to campaign for the top UN post.

She gained international recognition in 2022 after helping broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Russia and Ukraine, which facilitated grain exports amid the war.

The Costa Rican has also spoken about her family's history, saying her Jewish parents "barely survived" the Holocaust before emigrating to Costa Rica.

Grynspan has criticised what she describes as the UN's increasingly "risk-conservative" approach.

Michelle Bachelet

Bachelet, 74, became Chile's first woman president in 2006 after surviving torture under the regime of Augusto Pinochet.

She later served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a position in which she faced criticism from several countries, particularly China, following a report on alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Bachelet has argued that the Secretary-General must retain the "moral voice" needed to lead the organisation despite pressure from powerful member states.

She has received backing from Mexico and Brazil. However, Chile withdrew its support after far-right President Jose Antonio Kast took office. The United States has also criticised Bachelet, particularly over her support for abortion rights.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa

Ecuador's former foreign minister, Espinosa, 61, previously served as president of the UN General Assembly.

She has described the United Nations as the only universal platform capable of addressing challenges shared by humanity, while calling for deeper reforms within the organisation.

Among her proposals is an "early warning" system that could identify signs of impending conflicts before they escalate.

Her candidacy has been backed by Antigua and Barbuda, although Ecuador itself has not endorsed her bid.

Rafael Grossi

Grossi, 65, is an Argentine career diplomat who has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2019.

His role has put him at the centre of major international crises, including negotiations and tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear programme and the safety of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant amid the war with Russia.

Unlike some other candidates, Grossi has not stepped down from his current position to campaign for the UN's top job, saying doing so would amount to a "dereliction of duty".

Supporters point to his calls for UN reform and his belief that the Secretary-General should adopt a more hands-on approach to global crises.

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

Rodrigues-Birkett, 52, is Guyana's former foreign minister and currently serves as the country's ambassador to the United Nations.

She has said the organisation needs to restore its "credibility" on the global stage.

While acknowledging that the UN is often judged by its record on peace and security, she has stressed that its work extends to areas including development and human rights.

Ivonne A-Baki

A-Baki, 75, is an Ecuadorian diplomat and politician who previously served as Ecuador's ambassador to the United States, where she developed close ties with US President Donald Trump.

Nominated by Tonga, she also has strong links with the Gulf region after serving as Ecuador's ambassador to Qatar.

Born to Lebanese parents, A-Baki played a role in facilitating dialogue between Ecuador and Peru following their brief border war in 1995.

Drawing on her own experience, she has said she has "lived through the ravages of war" and wants to help restore the UN Charter's promise of protecting future generations from war.

Macky Sall

Sall, 64, is the only candidate who is not from Latin America, despite the convention that the next Secretary-General should come from the region.

The former Senegalese president has emphasised the close relationship between peace and development.

He was nominated by Burundi, which currently chairs the African Union, and received the backing of Senegal this week.

However, his record remains controversial. Senegalese authorities have accused him of violently suppressing political demonstrations between 2021 and 2024, during which dozens of people were killed.

Olara Otunnu

Otunnu, 75, served as a UN under-secretary-general and the organisation's special representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005 under former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He has also served as Uganda's ambassador to the UN and briefly as the country's foreign minister.

Otunnu later entered Ugandan politics, contesting the 2011 presidential election as the candidate of the opposition Uganda People's Congress. He lost to longtime President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

With the Security Council's five permanent members holding veto power, the race is likely to hinge not only on which candidate can secure nine votes, but also on who can win the backing — or at least avoid the opposition — of the world's most powerful countries.