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UN Security Council endorses Guterres's appointment as new Secretary General

Now Guterres is to get approval at the General Assembly, after which his official appointment will take place

Former Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

Former Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres

© AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

UNITED NATIONS, October 6. /TASS/.UN Security Council has endorsed appointment of the former Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres, to the positon of the UN Secretary General, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday.

He said members of the Security Council had a meeting behind closed doors earlier in the day where they endorsed a resolution containing a recommendation to the General Assembly to approve Guterres's appointment for a term of duties beginning on January 1, 2017, and ending on December 31, 2021.

Read also

Russian ambassador says Antonio Guterres obvious leader for UN Secretary General's post

Now Guterres is to get approval at the General Assembly, after which his official appointment will take place. To get appointed, he will need support from two-thirds of the 193 countries that are UN members at present.

Guterres, who held the position of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees before 2015, was one of the first candidates to enter the race - he did so in February. He became winner of all the six rounds of preliminary voting that took place at the Security Council over the past several months.

On the whole, a total of thirteen candidates took part in the election, including former heads of state, active-duty and former foreign ministers.

The powers of the outgoing Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon expire on December 31, 2016.

None of the eight persons who have held the post of the Secretary General to date has been a representative of Eastern Europe. Also, women have never occupied the position.

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