MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. 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 told TASS on the sidelines of bilateral consultations in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
"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. "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 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. But that is not the case. All this could create a situation that would not quite be confusion, but would still be better avoided," the diplomat noted.