South Korean, Indian rank first in UN leader poll

UNITED STATES: South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon and U.N. official Shashi Tharoor received the most endorsements in the Security Council's straw poll for the next U.N. Secretary-General, diplomats said on Monday. In a novel procedure, the 15 council members, in a secret ballot, checked one of three boxes next to each of the four announced candidates: "encourage," "discourage," and "no opinion."

Each of the four announced candidates were informed of their rankings and the race is far from over, with other names expected to emerge. But diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the ballots, said Ban received the most favorable votes followed by Tharoor, an Indian novelist and the head of the U.N. Department of Public Information.

Ban received 12 "encouragements," one "discourage" and two "no opinions." Tharoor followed with 10 "encouragements," two "discouragements" and three "no opinions."

The other two, whose countries have nominated them, came in third and fourth place. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai received seven "encouragements," three "discouragements" and five "no opinions." The vote for Sri Lankan, Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. disarmament under secretary-general, was five "encouragements," six "discouragements" and four "no opinions." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General in the 61-year-history of the United Nations, ends his 10 years in office on Dec. 31. A secretary-general is elected for a five-year term but can be re-elected.

Monday's ballots made no distinction between permanent members with veto power and the other 10 elected members.

Asian nations have contended that tradition requires rotating the job between regions and that it is their turn for the post.

Even U.S. President George W. Bush conceded the next Secretary-General would come from Asia. Bolton said the door should be open to candidates from all regions.

Other names floated in U.N. corridors but not nominated include Kemal Dervis, the Turkish chief of the U.N. Development Program; Jordan's Prince Zeid al-Hussein, who is his country's U.N. ambassador; and Goh Chok Tong, former Prime Minister of Singapore.

UNITED NATIONS, Tuesday (Reuters)