The U.N. Security Council took its first confidential straw poll in the race to choose the next secretary-general, offering an early measure of the varying levels of support for the seven candidates seeking to succeed António Guterres when his second term ends on Dec. 31.
The informal vote on Thursday produced no official public results, in keeping with the Council's longstanding practice of keeping straw polls confidential. But diplomats familiar with the confidential ballot told Reuters that Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica emerged as the early frontrunner, followed by Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Rafael Grossi of Argentina, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
