Annalena Baerbock, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, is appealing for more candidates to enter the race to become the next secretary-general. She said that a contest with only one contender — so far — would undercut the process of finding the right person to lead the world body at this critical time.
Baerbock’s remarks to journalists at UN headquarters on Jan. 14 came as she formally announced that public interactive dialogues with candidates for the next secretary-general will be held starting the week of April 20, 2026. The sessions, which will be webcast live, will allow candidates to present their vision statements and to answer questions from member states. Civil society groups would also be invited to participate.
“If we have only one candidate, obviously this won’t be many discussions,” she said on Wednesday, referring to the public hearings held by the General Assembly. “Our choice of who will lead this organization is a chance to send a clear message about who we are and what the United Nations stands for.”
Nominations must be submitted by April 1 for candidates to participate in the dialogues that month, Baerbock added. More details on the format of the hearings are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The selection process was officially launched with a joint letter from the respective presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, dated Nov. 25, 2025, urging governments to put forward nominees early and to “strongly consider” nominating women.
So far, however, only one candidate is publicly known to have been nominated. While a few other names have circulated privately and on civil society platforms monitoring the race, no additional official nominations have been announced.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, an Argentine who is director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the only official candidate right now. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina has backed Grossi, despite President Javier Milei’s rejecting a core antipoverty program of the UN, the Sustainable Development Goals. His government has also opposed the Pact for the Future, a global framework confronting such major issues as inequality, climate change and international financial governance.
Although Grossi has complied with a General Assembly recommendation that candidates should file financial disclosure information as part of their campaign, Grossi provided no details on the extent of his funding. Instead, the letter he filed says, per Google translate from Spanish to English, that “activities related to the selection process will be financed by the candidate using their own financial resources.” PassBlue sent an email on Dec. 19 to Grossi asking how he distinguishes between the costs of his work for the IAEA and his campaigning for UN secretary-general, but he sent no reply.
He has also declined to step down from his IAEA post while running for the UN leadership job, as the General Assembly has asked candidates to “consider” doing. Instead, Grossi said that he has “seriously considered the matter and, in view of the nature and responsibilities of my position, I must continue my work. I have informed the Board of Governors of the IAEA accordingly.”
On Jan. 13, Ivonne Baki, an Ecuadorian politician with Lebanese citizenship, was reportedly endorsed by the Lebanese government, according to her X account.
President Gabriel Boric of Chile, a leftist, nominated a former two-time president of his country and an ex-UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, as a candidate for UN secretary-general, but a new government will succeed Boric on March 11, led by José Antonio Kast, a conservative politician. Kast is shown on various Twitter accounts meeting with Bachelet recently but offering no endorsement. On Jan. 14, Boric reportedly said he would formalize the nomination as a “state decision” regardless of the presidential election results.
Costa Rica’s government has announced its intention to back a former vice president, Rebeca Grynspan, who leads the UN Trade and Development agency, based in Geneva. But the requisite paperwork from her government has not been filed with the president of the General Assembly’s office.
Baerbock framed the upcoming interactive dialogues as a test not only of individual candidates but also of the institution itself.
“The secretary-general will not only be the face and voice of this institution,” she told the General Assembly in a speech on Jan. 14 about her priorities for the rest of her presidency, which ends in mid-September. “Our choice will also demonstrate whether this organization and its member states truly serve all of humanity, half of whom are women and girls.”
In her wide-ranging address to the Assembly, Baerbock described a world in which the multilateral system is “not only under pressure, it is under attack,” citing wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, as well as growing divisions over human rights, climate change and international law.
“Big systems do not collapse all at once,” she told the 193-member body. “They crumble piece by piece.”
The selection of the next secretary-general for the 2027-2031 term will be one of the most consequential decisions of the Assembly’s current, 80th session, alongside continuing work to reform the UN’s mandates, slim down its bureaucracy and manage a financial crisis caused by unpaid mandatory contributions, mainly by the United States.
“The work of this organization has never been easy,” Baerbock said. “It was not built for easy victories. It was built for lasting peace and for the resolve never to give up.”
This article was updated to include the news about Ivonne Baki.
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on the next secretary-general?
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Damilola Banjo is an award-winning staff reporter for PassBlue who has covered a wide range of topics, from Africa-centered stories to gender equality to UN peacekeeping and US-UN relations. She also oversees all video production for PassBlue. She was a Dag Hammarskjold fellow in 2023 and a Pulitzer Center postgraduate fellow in 2021. She was part of the BBC Africa team that produced the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Sex for Grades.” In addition, she worked for WFAE, an NPR affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Banjo has a master’s of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
It is surprising that the article makes no mention whatsoever of Ivonne Baki, who is by far the strongest candidate to become the next and first female Secretary-General of the UN. Her candidacy has been officially announced by the Lebanese government, and she has the advantage of also being Ecuadorian, thus representing Latin America as well. A diplomat with vast experience, she possesses extensive knowledge of international affairs, great negotiating skills, an incisive understanding of international relations, and fluency in four official UN languages. It would be very difficult to find a candidate with a better profile, credentials, and qualities to lead the organization in the current context, especially when the position is specifically designated for a woman, and even more so given her background, knowledge, and experience. Ms. Baki is very well known in diplomatic circles and enjoys the sympathy of all member states of the Security Council, without any objection of the five permanent members. Her candidacy has all the strength and potential to be a success.
“The work of this organization has never been easy,” Baerbock said. “It was not built for easy victories. It was built for lasting peace and for the resolve never to give up.” We agree with your point however no UNSG before has never faced this systematic destruction of the the UN by one member of its Security Council. Democrats and Republicans in America have zero respect for the UN and its organisations (WHO, UNFPA, UNWOMEN, UNESCO, etc.) and no respect for any of its resolutions, the veto against end the genocide in Gaza is a very good example added to that is the horrible violation of the UN Charter in Venezuela, the bombing of Iran, Nigeria, Syria and the future invasion of Greenland. I will apply for the UNSG post and ask many good people like Francesca Albanese, Mia Motley, Harden, etc. to apply but only if the US and Israel are removed out of the UN.