Voting for UN Chief moves to key stage with Guterres top pick

Reuters: A sixth secret ballot by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday will signal whether former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is likely to be the next U.N. Secretary-General, or whether one of the five permanent Security Council members might veto his bid.

Guterres has come out atop the five closed-door polls since July. The 15-member council is aiming to reach consensus on a replacement for Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who will step down at the end of 2016 after two five-year terms.

However, amid a push for a woman to lead the 71-year-old world body for the first time, European Commissioner KristalinaGeorgieva of Bulgaria was a last-minute entry a week ago. It remains to be seen how great a threat she will pose to Guterres, with several diplomats saying her candidacy is too late.

She is the 13th candidate to enter the race and the seventh woman. Two women and a man have already withdrawn, leaving 10 candidates in the running.

The ballots the five veto powers - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - cast on Wednesday will be a different color to those of the other 10 council members, though they will remain anonymous. The vote is informal but it will allow the candidates to see if they could be facing a veto.

The Security Council casts ballots for each candidate with the choices of: encourage, discourage or no opinion. In the fifth secret poll on Sept. 26, Guterres received 12 encourage, two discourage and one no opinion.