Security Council holds first secret poll on next UN chief selection

The second round of straw poll has not yet been scheduled.

The incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is going to conclude his term at the end of 2016. The council's decision to select the top leader of the world organization shall come later in the fall.

Ahead of Thursday's confidential poll, the UN 193-member General Assembly has held public informal dialogues with every secretary-general candidate, during which the candidates were asked to submit their resumes and answer questions from UN member states as well as the civil society.

The procedure is widely seen historic, yet not decisive. President of UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft who initiated the procedure has said it is to find the best person who is the moral authority and is capable of leading the UN with political and diplomatic skills.

Regarding other UN member states, there has been a widespread call to select a woman as the world's top civil servant ever since the selection process was set in motion; it is also expected that the next secretary-general shall come from eastern Europe due to an unwritten rule of regional rotation in UN chief selection.