‘Save humanity’: Race to lead embattled UN heats up as four hopefuls enter public hearings

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The United Nations logo is seen on a gate outside the UN headquarters ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York September 21, 2025. Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as leader of the United Nations, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. — AFP pic

NEW YORK, April 21 — Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as leader of the United Nations, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis.

Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, and Senegal’s Macky Sall will each face grillings by 193 member states and NGOs for three hours today and tomorrow.

This combination of pictures created on April 16, 2026 shows (from left) Senegal's president Macky Sall at a European Union forum on Global gateway investment initiative at the EU headquarters in Brussels on October 25, 2023, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, speaking during a press conference in Lima, Secretary-General of the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan prior to a press conference ahead of the 16th UN conference on trade and development, in Geneva, on October 13, 2025 and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, speaking during the presentation of his candidacy for the United Nations secretary-general in Buenos Aires on December 22, 2025. — AFP pic

It is only the second time the UN has held a public Q&A, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency.

Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the global organisation as its secretary-general.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Manhattan-based UN, Mike Waltz, has warned the next chief must align with “American values and interests” and that Washington would back the best candidate — not necessarily a Latin American woman, as some countries are demanding.

All four candidates to take over the embattled UN when Guterres departs on December 31, 2026 pledge to grow trust in the bitterly divided organisation that faces financial Armageddon because of Washington’s refusal to pay its bills.

Here is a look at the contenders:

Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet takes part in a discussion at the University of Valparaiso, Chile, on March 31, 2026. — AFP pic

Michelle Bachelet 

A Chilean socialist brutally tortured by the regime of Augusto Pinochet, Bachelet became her country’s first woman president in 2006.

She went on to be the UN rights chief, a sensitive role in which she alienated some countries, especially China, which mauled her for reporting on alleged abuses of the Uyghur people.

Bachelet, 74, has said that she is “convinced” she has the experience “to confront a moment” marked by unprecedented crises and conflicts.

She is backed by Mexico and Brazil — but Chile withdrew its backing after far-right President Jose Antonio Kast took office.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, speaks during the presentation of his candidacy for the United Nations secretary-general in Buenos Aires on December 22, 2025. — AFP pic

Rafael Grossi 

The 65-year-old Grossi, a career diplomat, has led the International Atomic Energy Agency since 2019, propelling him into the middle of the battle over Iran’s nuclear programme as well as the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

His handling of the two situations has drawn close scrutiny from the United States and Russia, which both have veto power on the Security Council.

Grossi has called for the UN to “return to its founding promise — to save humanity from the scourge of war.”

United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretary-general Rebeca Grynspan speaks during a press conference, part of the 16th United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ministerial conference, in Geneva on October 22, 2025. — AFP pic

Rebeca Grynspan 

Less well-known than her opponents, Grynspan — Costa Rica’s former vice president — leads the UN trade and development body UNCTAD, pulling off a diplomatic feat by brokering the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Moscow and Kyiv to allow grain exports following Russia’s invasion.

In her pitch to world leaders, the 70-year-old plays up her personal story as the daughter of Jewish parents.

She said they “barely survived” the Holocaust before emigrating to Costa Rica, stressing her attachment to the UN Charter, calling the document signed as World War II came to an end a “standing warning against the perils of dehumanisation, distrust and fragmentation.”

Senegal's Presdient Macky Sall speaks during the High-Level Segment for Heads of State and Government session at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai on December 1, 2023. — AFP pic

Macky Sall 

Macky Sall, 64, is the only candidate who does not come from Latin America, from where the next UN boss should come, according to convention.

The former Senegalese president has stressed the link between peace and development in his pitch to lead the UN.

He said peace can never be “sustainable” if development is undermined “by poverty, inequality, exclusion and climate vulnerability.”

Proposed by Burundi, the current chair of the African Union, Sall is supported neither by the regional African bloc — 20 of its 55 members oppose him — nor by his own country.

Senegalese authorities accuse him of bloodily repressing violent political demonstrations that left dozens dead between 2021 and 2024. — AFP