So, You Want to Be U.N. Secretary-General?

"In the first effort to narrow the field of candidates for secretary-general, the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to conduct a straw poll Thursday to determine which of the 12 candidates have enough support to continue their bids for the world's top diplomatic job...

The 12 candidates include eight women and range from well-known figures like former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to lesser-known diplomats like Natalia Gherman, a former Moldovan foreign minister. Other contenders, including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are expected to enter the fray. So far, there are no sure bets to win the brass ring.

'None of us can predict,' the winner at this stage, said one European diplomat who has been closely tracking the contest. The race is 'still pretty open.'

Thursday's vote is designed to measure the level of support for each candidate, with each of the council's 15 members casting a vote indicating whether they encourage, discourage, or have no opinion on a candidate. The results, which will not be made public, will then be shared with governments sponsoring the candidates. The point is to urge candidates incapable of securing sufficient support to drop out of the race...

The U.N. Security Council - particularly its five permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States - will ultimately cast the deciding votes. But the outcome of the race hinges in part on whether Russia, as the key Eastern European power, will insist that the next U.N. leader comes from the region..."