On Friday 18 September, the UN Security Council conducted its third ‘straw poll’, indicating the level of support among its members for each Secretary-General candidate.

The 15 members of the Security Council vote ‘encourage’, ‘discourage’ or ‘no opinion’ on their ballot for the candidates. In this second poll, the votes of the Permanent Five veto-holding members of the council remain undifferentiated from those of the other elected members.

The same two candidates — Rebeca Grynspan and Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett — have emerged as the top two candidates in all three straw polls conducted so far. However, Rafael Grossi, who was third in the rankings in the first two straw polls, has now slipped to fourth place behind Olara Otunnu.

Find the full results of the straw polls here.

As in the 2016 process, the straw poll result was not publicly released or formally transmitted to the PGA; however, the results have been leaked online. You can find out more about how the Security Council straw polls work in our Ultimate Guide to the Selection Process.