Slovenia fails to get new UN sec-gen

Lipica, 2 December - Considered one of the frontrunners among the many candidates for the top UN job, Slovenia's former President Danilo Türk failed to garner the necessary support to become the next secretary general for 2017-2021. Türk, who served as assistant UN secretary general for political affairs in 2000-2005 after an eight-year stint as Slovenia's first ambassador to the UN, had been considered a serious contender also because it was ostensibly Eastern Europe's turn to provide the new UN boss. However, the Security Council coalesced around the frontrunner Antonio Guterres in a decisive straw poll vote, a novelty introduced to make the selection process more transparent. Slovenian officials were nevertheless happy, seeing Türk as a credible candidate with good references, which helped promote Slovenia in the international arena. Opposition centre-right parties had been against his candidacy all along, considering him as a figure too divisive.