UN Veto Powers Hide Their Hand in Leadership Poll

The eighth informal U.N. Security Council straw poll gave former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan 12 “encourage” votes and three “discourage” votes, according to leaked results reported by PassBlue. The five permanent members can veto a secretary-general candidate, but the latest ballot concealed whether any of them voted against a contender. The Council used ballots of the same color.

A leadership contest behind closed doors

Grynspan improved on her seventh-poll tally from Oct. 30, when she received 11 “encourage” votes and four “discourage” votes. Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, remained second with nine “encourage,” four “discourage” and two “no opinion” votes. Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett received eight, five and two, respectively, bringing her “discourage” total down from six.

Türkiye’s Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the newest entrant, received three “encourage,” eight “discourage” and four “no opinion” votes in his first poll. The United Arab Emirates’ Lana Nusseibeh received seven, six and two. Uganda’s Olara Otunnu received four “encourage” votes, while Ecuador’s María Fernanda Espinosa received three. Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki received one “encourage” vote and 14 “discourage” votes.

The same-color ballots hid whether “discourage” votes came from the United States, China, Russia, France or the United Kingdom, the five permanent members with veto power. PassBlue reported speculation that the United States had consistently discouraged Grynspan and Russia may have joined it in the latest poll. In the only color-coded poll so far, held Oct. 16, Grynspan, Grossi and Rodrigues Birkett each received two “discourage” votes from permanent members. An outside expert told PassBlue that China may want polls to remain undifferentiated, giving Latin American candidates more time to build support.

The appointment process starts with this small Council and then moves to the General Assembly. A candidate needs at least nine votes in favor in the Security Council and no veto from a permanent member to earn a recommendation; the 193-member General Assembly makes the appointment. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s second term ends Dec. 31. The Council’s November president, Latvian Ambassador Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, warned that time to agree on a candidate was running out. No date had been set for the next poll, and it wasn’t known whether ballots would be color-coded.

President Laura Fernández sought support for Grynspan’s candidacy that week at the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid. Grynspan served as Costa Rica’s second vice president from 1994 to 1998, led the Ibero-American General Secretariat from 2014 to 2021 and has headed U.N. Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 2021. Costa Rica formally nominated her on March 3. If selected, she would become the first woman to lead the United Nations since its founding in 1945 and the first Central American. Sinirlioğlu was scheduled to hold a public dialogue with the General Assembly on Friday and meet informally with Security Council members on Monday.

A public-health restriction on the gulf

Costa Rica’s National Animal Health Service (SENASA) expanded a ban on selling and eating bivalve shellfish from restricted areas of the Gulf of Nicoya because of a toxic red tide. The latest restriction covers the gulf’s western shore between Playa Blanca and Punta Curú, as well as the coastal strip from the mouth of the Jesús María River to the sugar dock at Punta Morales. Researchers at the National University (UNA) say restrictions have applied since June 12 and have expanded as laboratory tests found toxins at additional locations.

SENASA followed a recommendation from an interagency commission that includes UNA’s Marine Phytoplankton Laboratory. The ban applies to two-shelled mollusks, including oysters, mussels and pianguas. These shellfish filter seawater and can accumulate toxins during toxic algae blooms. UNA specialists said contaminated shellfish may look, smell and taste normal. Cooking doesn’t destroy the toxins.

UNA identified Pyrodinium bahamense as the source of paralytic toxins in the gulf. The algae can also produce diarrheic, amnesic and neurotoxic toxins. SENASA warned that eating contaminated bivalves can cause digestive problems, neurological effects and, in severe cases, death. Anyone who experiences tingling or numbness around the mouth, nausea or dizziness after eating shellfish should seek medical care and tell the doctor what they ate.

UNA experts said El Niño may be linked to the red tide: warmer seas and a more stratified water column can favor Pyrodinium bahamense. The species also has a dormant stage in seabed sediments. Winds and tides must stir its cysts before they germinate, an element of the cycle UNA said requires further study. The restriction applies only to bivalve mollusks. Authorities continue to monitor blooms and redraw restricted areas when new test results come in.