Korean Official Solidifies Front-Runner Status in U.N. Race

UNITED NATIONS — While the South Korean foreign minister, Ban Kimoon, solidified his status as the top candidate to succeed Secretary-General Annan, the results of yesterday's U.N. Security Council poll mean the race is not over, U.N. diplomats said.

Mr. Ban lost some of the support he had gained in an earlier poll, which diplomats said could open the way for an undeclared candidate to emerge. The loss of support also could be part of a power struggle that has some Security Council members jockeying to secure influential positions at Turtle Bay.

While the Security Council has yet to hold a formal vote, it has conducted several secret contests, known as straw polls, through which Mr. Ban has emerged as a front-runner among the seven declared candidates. The Korean diplomat also has secured at least the tacit support of the two most powerful council members, Beijing and Washington. But though Mr. Ban's candidacy received favorable votes from all but one of the 15 members of the Security Council in the last poll, yesterday that number grew to two.

There is "more clarity," the French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, told The New York Sun after the poll. "Delegations are focusing more and expressing more their preference. But still, it is not totally clear."

In yesterday's poll, as in the earlier contests, the 15 council members were handed cards and chose from one of three options for each candidate: "encourage," "discourage," and "no opinion." After the results were tallied, candidates who earlier were slightly "discouraged" from running were more clearly "discouraged." On the other hand, however, the front-runner, Mr. Ban, did not do as well as he had in the last poll, after which he was all but declared the winner.

Yesterday's results will become significantly clearer on Monday, when the council is scheduled to conduct a poll with different rules: The ballots will be color-coded, with the 10 elected members distinguished from America, China, Russia, France, and Britain, the five permanent members that have a veto.

Britain and France had pushed to delay that decisive straw poll until Monday, perhaps to allow for a new candidate to emerge this weekend and mount a serious challenge to Mr. Ban.

Several diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity said, however, that the two unidentified countries that did not vote to "encourage" Mr. Ban yesterday might have withheld their support with the hope of gaining leverage to secure top U.N. positions. After being selected by the council, the new secretary-general, who is scheduled to assume office January 1, is expected to assemble an executive team for Turtle Bay, bringing in some new officials and leaving other positions intact.

The U.N. Department of Political Affairs, which for decades was headed by a Briton, came under the control of a Nigerian official, Ibrahim Gambari, when Mr. Annan appointed the British diplomat Mark Malloch Brown as his deputy. Britain is now said to be seeking to regain control of that key department. France, similarly, is aiming to maintain control of the U.N. Peacekeeping Department, which is currently headed by a Frenchman, Jean-Marie Guéhenno. Mr. Malloch Brown has said he will resign from his position at Turtle Bay when Mr. Annan's term expires, leaving the deputy slot, which became the real seat of power at Turtle Bay under Mr. Malloch Brown, up for grabs. A number of countries are vying to qualify their candidates for the job.

Ambassador Wang Guangya of China said yesterday that the selection of the new deputy secretary-general should be handled by the General Assembly. But that decision, as well as those on all the other top appointments, will be left mostly to new secretary-general.

Yesterday, Mr. Ban received 13 votes to "encourage" his candidacy, one "discourage" ballot, and one "no opinion." In second place was Shashi Tharoor of India. Just eight members encouraged his candidacy, while at least nine favorable votes are needed to pass any decision at the Security Council.

Moving up to third was the newest candidate, President Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, with seven encouragements, while Surakiart Sathirathai of Thailand was edged to fourth place.

Mr. Surakariart, whose government was ousted in a military coup since the last straw poll, might be pushed to drop his candidacy. This could allow a new South Asian candidate to emerge, perhaps one from Singapore, which has fielded many U.N. officials over the years and which Britain is said to favor.