Thai Muslim politician possible successor to Kofi Annan

**sonz** · 10-01-2006

Former Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, a Muslim highly respected by the international community, emerged as a possible successor to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Thailand’s Nation newspaper reported on Thursday.

"He is an Asian, a moderate Muslim and a former foreign minister who is well-known and respected in the international community," the paper cited an unnamed official as saying.

The report also quoted “informed sources” who said that the United States will back Surin because it believes that he is “a strong candidate”.

Surin, Thailand’s top diplomat for four years after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, did not deny the report.

"I can only say that one feels honored for having his name being mentioned in such a positive light," he told Reuters.

"At this moment, I am not a candidate but the international community has been aware of my keen interest in an international position,” he added.

Asked if he’d been approached by U.S. officials as a possible candidate he said: “Not personally, not directly”.

Meanwhile, Richard Grenell, the spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, denied that Washington supported Surin’s candidacy, saying that the Nation report was “completely wrong”.

On Thursday, members of the UN Security Council conducted a third informal vote on their preferences for the seven declared candidates to succeed Annan.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon emerged top of the two previous polls.

Thailand's declared candidate, Surakiart Sathirathai, a deputy prime minister in the government that was toppled in a coup last week, has come third in the previous votes.

**AHMED_GUREY** · 10-01-2006

isn't that seat ''seen'' as a mere ''puppet seat'' controlled by american puppeteers?

so lets say if he wins wouldn't he be seen a ''muslim puppet'' controlled by americans?

**Trumble** · 10-01-2006

Originally Posted by AHMED_GUREY

isn't that seat ''seen'' as a mere ''puppet seat'' controlled by american puppeteers?

Not generally no, except by those who think anybody who doesn't spend half of their time declaring "death to America" and "death to Israel" must be an American puppet.

Actually, of the six remaining candidates (a Sri Lankan dropped out) fully half are muslims, there's an Afghan and a Jordanian in the mix as well.

**- Qatada -** · 10-01-2006

Originally Posted by Trumble

Not generally no, except by those who think anybody who doesn't spend half of their time declaring "death to America" and "death to Israel" must be an American puppet.

Actually, of the six remaining candidates (a Sri Lankan dropped out) fully half are muslims, there's an Afghan and a Jordanian in the mix as well.

Anyone who prefer's the law of something besides the law of Allaah is falling into a dangerous path.

Peace.

**north_malaysian** · 10-02-2006

Good for Muslims.....

**AHMED_GUREY** · 10-03-2006

Korean pulls ahead in race to succeed Annan

South Korea's foreign minister has cemented his position as the near-certain successor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, being the only one of six candidates to escape a veto in an informal Security Council ballot.

The Security Council was expected to hold a formal vote to pick the eighth secretary-general in the United Nations' 60-year history on October 9, making Ban Ki-moon's appointment almost assured.

The 192-nation General Assembly must approve the council's recommendation, and traditionally does so without protest.

"It is quite clear that from today's straw poll that Minister Ban Ki-moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend to the General Assembly," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

While the informal poll is nonbinding and the results could change, diplomats and candidates left little doubt that Ban would win.

Soon after the results became known, India's Shashi Tharoor, the U.N. undersecretary-general for public information, announced he was leaving the race even though he placed second to Ban in all four of the informal polls.

"It is clear that he will be our next secretary-general," Tharoor said.

If Ban does indeed win the race, his selection will have been marked by unprecedented speed, consensus and calm. In the past, U.N. chiefs have often been elected as time runs out, after heated negotiations and numerous rounds of voting.

Annan himself was a compromise candidate in 1996 who emerged late and only after the United States blocked Boutros Boutros-Ghali's bid for a second term.

Annan's example also shows how unpredictable the process can be: during informal polling at the time, France consistently vetoed him before changing its vote at the last minute.

In Monday's poll, the 15 council nations checked one of three boxes for each candidate in the secret ballot: "Encourage," "discourage," and "no opinion." For the first time, the five permanent members of the council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- were given blue ballots to show the candidates if they could escape a veto.

According to the results, Ban received 14 votes in favor and a white "no opinion" ballot cast by one of the 10 rotating members of the council. Every other candidate received at least one no vote from a veto-wielding member.

Vote delayed
Tharoor received 10 favorable votes and three against. One of those negative votes was a veto. Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga was next with five in favor, six against -- including two vetoes -- and four undecided votes.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who was the first to announce his candidacy last year, and former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani each received four votes in favor. But Ghani had 11 votes against him including three vetoes, and Surakiart had seven no-votes, among them two vetoes.

The last candidate, Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein, had only two votes in favor and eight against, with one veto.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the council would meet on October 9 to hold its formal vote, while Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, president of the Security Council for October, said that was the likely date.

Bolton said he had wanted the vote by the end of the week, but agreed to delay so candidates could decide to drop out and new ones could come forward.

But the council wants the process finished by the end of October, and Bolton suggested there was not enough time.

"New candidates still have the option of coming forward, but we've been waiting for new candidates and I don't know of any, there's no speculation of any," Bolton said. "I'd be surprised if new candidates came forward."

Source