Status Two informal straw polls have been held in the Security Council on the succession to António Guterres, whose second five-year term expires on 31 December. Neither produced a candidate with nine encourage votes, the threshold that would signal a Council majority. The declared field has doubled since March, from four candidates to eight. The lead changed hands between the first poll and the second. The successor takes office on 1 January 2027.

The recent confirmation of Zeina Jallad to a six-year term as a United Nations human rights expert marks a troubling moment for the integrity of international institutional oversight. During the 61st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Jallad was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, a role intended to provide objective analysis on the humanitarian effects of international sanctions. However, the process by which she attained this mandate, and the controversial history she brings to it, suggests a significant breakdown in the vetting standards expected of the world’s primary human rights body.