This House would elect the UN Secretary General

Currently, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly upon nomination by the Security Council (SC). This means the appointment is therefore subject to the veto of its five permanent (P5) members: Russia, China, The United States, The United Kingdom and France. An accepted practice of regional rotation has also been adopted in the selection of candidates. These procedures occur largely behind closed doors and, critics claim, fall far short of other international high-level public sector appointment procedures established to ensure qualified appointments. The same critics claim that reforms need to be implemented to the selection process in order to raise the level of transparency, accountability and democracy within the institution. One such radical reform could be the election of the Secretary-General through popular vote - i.e. the vote of individual citizens of its 192 member states.

Possible practical proposal:

It would be difficult for a government to argue for a mechanism of popular vote in the 192 member states (the EU parliament is difficult enough to elect with only 27 member states – but it can be used as a basic model). However, it is much easier to maintain that the Secretary General should be elected by popular vote of the delegates in the UN General Assembly (i.e. by people who have entrusted with the power to represent the interests of their citizens).

A Canadian paper from 2006

“suggested:

1.  The selection should be "anchored in agreed criteria/qualifications".

2.  A "search committee should be asked to identify potential candidates".

3.  There should be opportunities for candidates to meet with all Members of the General Assembly—perhaps through regional group meetings.

4.  The Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council should organize some informal events, under their joint auspices to permit an "exploration of the perspectives and positions of the candidates".”[i]

India called for the UNSC to propose 3 candidates to the General Assembly, instead of one.[ii]

Possible alternative motions:

Should the Secretary-General of the United Nations be elected through the direct vote of the citizens of member states?

This house would reform UN Secretary-General elections

This house believes the Security Council should not play a role in the election of the Secretary-General


This house would directly elect the UN Secretary-General


This house would elect the UN Secretary-General by popular vote


This house believes that the election of the Secretary-General should not be subject to the veto of the permanent five