The results are in from our recent informal readers’ survey on who should be the next UN secretary-general for the five-year term starting in 2027.
The voting is as follows:
Michelle Bachelet of Chile finished with a commanding victory, taking more than 29 percent of the vote. That percentage is more than double the votes of her top challenger, María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, who finished with 13.7%. Third was Mia Mottley of Barbados with 8.9% of the vote.
Colombe Cahen-Salvador, a French political activist running for secretary-general from outside the UN system, ran a strong write-in campaign, ending up with 7.8% of the vote. The other top three write-in candidates, but garnering less than 1% each: Francesca Albanese, Jacinda Ardern and Sigrid Kaag.
The survey was done from Oct. 18 to Oct. 26, 2025. (Our first informal poll on who should lead the UN was done in April 2024: compare the results with this year’s.)
We look forward to hearing your response in the comment section under the story as the process to select the next UN leader has been kicked off by three candidates who have declared they are running so far: Bachelet, Rebeca Grynspan (of Costa Rica) and Rafael Mariano Grossi (of Argentina). Please send tips to passblue1@gmail.com. Messages will be kept confidential.
The results for the Top 10 are listed in the table below.
| Placement | Candidate | Percent of Vote |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Bachelet of Chile | 29.1% |
| 2 | María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador | 13.7% |
| 3 | Mia Mottley of Barbados | 8.9% |
| 4 | Colombe Cahen-Salvador* | 7.8% |
| 5 | Virginia Gamba of Argentina | 6.9% |
| 6 | Tanja Fajon of Slovenia | 6.5% |
| 7 | Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica | 5.6% |
| 8 | Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina | 4.7% |
| 9 | Amina Mohammed of Nigeria | 4.0% |
| 10 | María Angela Holguín of Colombia | 3.5% |
*Write-in Candidate
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on who should be the next UN boss?
I most assuredly have my “reservations, for the Candidate Mia Amor Mottley
In February 2025, I submitted my Letter of Renunciation of Barbadian Citizenship to the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados.
In that correspondence, I, David Carlos Antonio Weekes, born in Saint Michael, Barbados, signified and affirmed my intention to voluntarily relinquish my Barbadian citizenship.
My decision was based on my experience of being unable, over an eighteen-year period, to obtain what I believe to be my constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair hearing before the courts of Barbados. This was in relation to a longstanding matter concerning my intellectual property (see Case 190 of 2007).
I have consistently maintained that I was denied access to due process and equal protection under the law. Over the years, I have also faced a series of incidents that I perceived as forms of intimidation and personal endangerment during the course of seeking legal redress. These experiences have profoundly shaped my loss of faith in the administration of justice within Barbados.
In this context, I find it deeply troubling that Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, while widely recognized internationally for her advocacy on global and climate-justice issues, presides over a system in which such prolonged denials of due process have occurred.
Therefore, as someone who has personally endured what I view as systemic injustice and the absence of effective legal remedies, I cannot in good conscience support the consideration of Prime Minister Mottley for the position of United Nations Secretary-General.
In my view, the credibility of global leadership in law and justice must rest upon a demonstrable respect for those very principles at home.
Go Tanja! The EEG has never ever had the SG. It is time.