A new UN secretary-general must be elected by December 31 this year to avoid confusion over who will serve as the administrative head of the world organization, Russian Foreign Ministry Department of International Organizations Director Kirill Logvinov said.
"The one thing we know for certain is that the current secretary-general's term ends on December 31. We are therefore doing everything we can to ensure that the appointment process is completed by the end of the year," Logvinov said.
According to him, this involves working directly with the candidates and holding rounds of straw polls.
"It is also unclear what will happen after December 31. Several options are being considered, including extending the current secretary-general's term temporarily or appointing one of his current deputies as acting secretary-general," Logvinov said.
He added that the outcome would also depend on the plans of the deputy secretaries-general.
"Some of them have said they plan to leave. Another issue is that the first deputy secretary-general's term is tied to that of the secretary-general. One might assume that when the secretary-general steps down, the first deputy automatically takes over," Logvinov said.
