Do You Have What It Takes To Be A UN Secretary-General?

Could you be the ninth person (but let's be real it will probably be a man) to run the 193-member body?

By
Hayes Brown
by Hayes Brown

BuzzFeed News World Editor

This week marks the last United Nations General Assembly for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, whose second term expires at the end of the year.

Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images

As the race to replace him begins, next month the UN Security Council will start casting color-coded ballots to see where the various candidates stand in the eyes of the five members — the US, UK, France, China, and Russia, known colloquially as the "P-5" — who could torpedo their campaign with a veto.

Once someone wins the approval of the Security Council, their name goes to the General Assembly, which basically acts like a stamp of approval. (No candidate for the UNSG role has ever been rejected by the GA.)

The list of candidates is long but there's always time for a dark-horse candidate to enter the race. The UN Charter doesn't set any specific guidelines for the Secretary-General's qualifications, so maybe it could be you?

Mike Segar / Reuters

So how about it: do you have what it takes to be a good Secretary-General?

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