Seventh candidate, Uganda's Olara Otunnu, joins race to lead UN

Candidates for the United Nations Secretary-General position participate in a debate at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York, on July 23, 2026. [AFP]

 The race to become the next leader of the United Nations on Saturday added a seventh candidate: Uganda's Olara Otunnu, a former opposition presidential candidate and onetime high-ranking UN official.

The world body informed member states of the candidacy of the 75-year-old Otunnu, which was presented by his home nation.

Otunnu served as UN under-secretary general and special representative for children and armed conflict from 1997 to 2005 under then UN chief Kofi Annan.

He also served as Uganda's UN envoy, and as his country's foreign minister for a brief period.

Otunnu stood as the presidential candidate for the opposition Uganda People's Congress in the 2011 election, losing to longtime leader Yoweri Museveni, in office since 1986.

Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador's Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Senegal's Macky Sall are all in the running to succeed outgoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who leaves office on December 31.

The six candidates participated in a televised debate on Thursday.

On July 30, the 15 members of the UN Security Council are due to hold their first closed-door, anonymous vote on their preferences among the candidates.

That first "straw poll" will be followed by an unspecified number of similar votes until one candidate can secure the required nine votes without a veto from any of the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia.

The name of the selected candidate will then be sent to the General Assembly for formal appointment to the position.

He or she will take office on January 1, 2027.