UN Elects Guterres For Another Five-Year Term As Secretary-General

• Under the UN Charter, the General Assembly elects the secretary-general on the recommendation of the Security Council

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously elected Antonio Guterres to a second term as secretary-general on Friday, giving him another five years at the helm of the 193-member organisation at a time a deeply divided world faces numerous conflicts, the growing impact of climate change, and a pandemic still circling the globe.

Ambassadors in the assembly chamber burst into applause as Assembly President Volkan Bozkir announced Guterres’ re-election by “acclamation,” without a vote.

Read also: COVID-19 Vaccines: UNICEF Asks G7 Countries To Donate Or Risk Wasting Jabs

Just before the announcement, Estonia’s UN Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, the current Security Council president, read a resolution adopted by the 15-member council recommending Guterres for a second term.

Under the UN Charter, the General Assembly elects the secretary-general on the recommendation of the Security Council.

Guterres was the only candidate nominated by a UN member state, his home country Portugal where he previously served as prime minister, and the country’s current president was in the assembly chamber to watch the event.

Immediately after his re-election, Guterres took the oath of office and delivered an address urging UN member nations “to do everything we can to overcome current geostrategic divides and dysfunctional power relations.”

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

US Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare, Preserves Health Care For Millions