Welcome to the race for the international community’s top diplomatic job – United Nations secretary general. But his route to the secretary generalship could still be blocked by a veto from one of the five permanent council members, most plausibly Russia. Last week, a Twitter account in Guterres’ name claimed to have secured Moscow’s support, triggering speculation the race could be abruptly over. Since then, Russian officials have been canvassing votes for Bokova as a way of keeping Georgieva out of the race. For that reason, candidates with indifferent results in past ballots are staying in the race, at least until the coloured ballots in October.

Source: The Guardian September 26, 2016 06:00 UTC