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In 2023, Burundi President Macky Sall visited Senegal to meet Macky Sall, then President.

NEW YORK — Former Senegalese President Macky Sall has withdrawn his candidacy for United Nations secretary-general, a day after a Security Council vote showed that he lacked sufficient support among the council’s permanent members.

Sall announced his decision on Saturday in a statement issued from Morocco, saying it followed the informal vote held on 16 October and consultations with Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye and Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Ndayishimiye, who currently chairs the African Union, had nominated Sall for the position, while Faye, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), had supported his bid.

“Following the informal vote of 16 October and after consultations with President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, the current Chairperson of the African Union, and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal, the current Chairperson of ECOWAS, I have decided to withdraw my candidacy for the position of United Nations Secretary-General,” Sall said in his statement.

He said he hoped his withdrawal would help the Security Council identify a candidate capable of securing broad support.

Sall also thanked the countries that supported his candidacy, his campaign team and those who had accompanied him throughout the process. He said he remained committed to the principles of peace, security, development and international cooperation that had motivated his bid.

Setback in Security Council vote

Sall’s withdrawal came after the Security Council held its sixth informal vote on Friday to assess candidates seeking to succeed António Guterres, whose term ends on 31 December 2026.

Sall received five votes in favour, 10 against and no abstentions. Three of the 10 votes against him came from the council’s five permanent members: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia.

The latest round was the first to use colour-coded ballots to distinguish votes cast by the permanent members from those of the council’s 10 elected members, making potential vetoes clearer.

All seven candidates in the race received at least two votes against them from permanent members, indicating that none had yet secured the backing needed to emerge as a consensus choice.

Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan remained in the lead with nine votes in favour, five against and one abstention. Argentina’s Rafael Grossi and Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett each received eight votes in favour.

Sall’s withdrawal followed an earlier poll on 7 October in which he received five votes in favour, nine against and one abstention. The latest results confirmed that his candidacy faced significant opposition within the council.

The informal votes are not binding, and opposition from a permanent member does not constitute a formal veto at this stage. However, a candidate must eventually secure at least nine votes in the 15-member council without a negative vote from any of the five permanent members to be recommended to the General Assembly.

Only African candidate left

Sall’s departure leaves six candidates in the race, including Uganda’s Olara Otunnu, now the only African contender.

The other candidates are Grynspan, Grossi, Rodrigues-Birkett, and Ecuadorians María Fernanda Espinosa and Ivonne A-Baki. Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet withdrew her candidacy in September.

The race has been complicated by the longstanding practice of regional rotation, under which the next secretary-general is widely expected to come from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sall acknowledged that the informal votes appeared to favour a candidate from that region, “and possibly a woman”, suggesting that the direction of the selection process influenced his decision.

Grynspan, a former vice-president of Costa Rica and former head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, is currently the leading candidate. Grossi heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, while Rodrigues-Birkett is Guyana’s former foreign minister and permanent representative to the United Nations.

Although Otunnu remains in the race, his fourth-place finish among the seven candidates in the latest poll leaves the African bid facing a difficult path.

Burundi-backed bid ends

Sall’s candidacy had carried significance for African leaders seeking greater representation in international institutions. Burundi formally nominated him in March, with Ndayishimiye supporting his bid in his capacity as current African Union chairperson.

The nomination attracted fierce controversy because, according to critics of the process, did not follow the usual continental process that has existed before, when making big decisions within the African Union.

His withdrawal now leaves African governments to consider whether to rally behind Otunnu or support a candidate from another region as the selection process continues.

The decision also comes amid calls for reform of the United Nations and greater representation of Africa in global decision-making. Sall had made international cooperation, peace and security central themes of his campaign.

The Security Council must recommend a candidate to the General Assembly, which will make the formal appointment. With no contender yet having overcome opposition from permanent members, further consultations and informal votes are expected as the council works towards selecting Guterres’s successor before the end of the year.

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