Joining Thailand’s Surakiart Sathirathai, Latvia’s President Vaira Vike-Frieberga withdrew her candidacy for UNSG today.
In a statement released moments ago,
…Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga wishes to thank all those who have supported her candidacy. She thanks particularly warmly Estonia and Lithuania for placing exceptional trust in her candidacy. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga expresses her appreciation to all the countries represented at the Security Council that have supported her candidature in two indicative votes. [The] President of Latvia warmly thanks the leaders of the Eastern and Central European states that expressed their support for her candidature at the UN General Assembly debates last month. Finally, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga wishes to thank all the representatives of civil society, in particular organizations promoting gender equality, for their heartfelt encouragement.
The statement described Vike-Freiberga’s campaign as challenging the “restrictive regional or gender criteria” which she felt characterizes the current selection process and the continuing need for reform.
The President emphasized the need for a higher degree of democracy, openness and transparency during the selection process of the Secretary General. It is her firm belief that other qualified candidates representing half of humanity and one of the most dynamic regions of the world will eventually succeed in being elected to this august post.
Perhaps in 2016?
That is indeed a pity! We need more women CEOs, Presidents and, of course, the next UNSG should be from the opressed 50% of humanity…
And now that the UNSG elections have kind of concluded, one thing is not clear to this observer; In the New York Times op-ed articles just a couple of days before the last round, Mr. Tharoor spoke out for UNs role in nation building, citing the example of East Timor, which is a fair opinion. BUT what was being promised at that crucial moment before the finishing line? Seen from the context of NOW, it looked like dangling the bait of taking UN once again to Iraq to get the crucial US vote, as if only the UNSG can decide this. Can anyone throw light on this?
[...] Cette nuit-là, nous avons appris que le veto russe l’empêcherait d’accéder à l’investiture suprême à l’ONU et, de ce fait, elle ne pouvait qu’élégamment jeter le gant, ce qu’elle fit dès mercredi. http://www.unsg.org/wordpress/archives/173/ [...]