On Tuesday, 29 September, the UN Security Council conducted its fourth ‘straw poll’, indicating the level of support among its members for each Secretary-General candidate.

The 15 members of the Security Council voted ‘encourage’, ‘discourage’ or ‘no opinion’ on their ballot for the now 7 candidates, with Ms. Bachelet withdrawing from the race on 20 September.

Rebeca Grynspan strengthened her position as the frontrunner having increased her total “encourage” votes from 9 to 10 since the previous straw poll on 19 September. Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett continued to hold second place and Rafael Grossi regained third place after having dropped to fourth in the last straw poll.

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.