Competition for Grossi as UAE nominates top official to lead United Nations

The United Arab Emirates has nominated State Minister Lana Nusseibeh to run in the contest to lead the United Nations. 

In a nominating letter, the UAE cited her “deep experience of the United Nations, her judgment in addressing the ongoing international challenges and her record of constructive work,” according to the Emirates News Agency.

Nusseibeh is a well-regarded state minister at the United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry, who previously represented Abu Dhabi at the UN.

“I am standing to be Secretary-General because I believe this is a moment to act with greater urgency: to act earlier, bring people together across differences, and drive the work forward until it produces concrete results,” she said in a statement.

In the latest informal straw poll held last week to gauge which candidates have a shot of becoming the next UN Secretary-General, every contender received an effective veto.

Five of the 15 members of the UN Security Council wield veto power and can shut down any candidate that is unacceptable to them, which happened on October 16 when all seven candidates received at least two vetoes. 

One candidate, Macky Sall of Senegal, subsequently dropped out.

That left Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan – who has been among the frontrunners in the five previous polls – running alongside Guyanese ex-foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, the current head of the UN nuclear watchdog. Also in the race are Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki and Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and Uganda’s Olara Otunnu.

Outgoing secretary-general, António Guterres of Portugal, ends his second five-year term on December 31, 2026.

Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 available in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.

Once a candidate clears those barriers, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.

If selected, Nusseibeh would become the 10th secretary general and the first woman to lead the UN. But her candidacy would challenge another UN tradition – the informal rotation of the post among regions. Latin America and the Caribbean is considered next in line, though the convention isn’t binding.

“Nusseibeh’s candidacy will send a jolt of lightning into a race that has gone on for some time without delivering a clear result,” said Daniel Forti, a UN expert at the International Crisis Group.

– TIMES/AFP/BLOOMBERG