UN chief Antonio Guterres appointed for second five-year term
- Immediately after his re-election, Guterres urged UN member nations ‘to do everything we can to overcome current geostrategic divides’
- Guterres, a former UN refugee chief, took office in January 2017
Ambassadors in the assembly chamber burst into applause as Assembly President Volkan Bozkir announced Guterres’ re-election by “acclamation,” without a vote. Just before the announcement, Estonia’s UN Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, the current Security Council president, read a resolution adopted by the 15-member council recommending Guterres for a second term.
Under the UN Charter, the General Assembly elects the secretary general on the recommendation of the Security Council.
Guterres was the only candidate nominated by a UN member state, his home country Portugal where he previously served as prime minister, and the country’s current president was in the assembly chamber to watch the event.
Immediately after his re-election, Guterres took the oath of office and delivered an address urging UN member nations “to do everything we can to overcome current geostrategic divides and dysfunctional power relations”.
“There are too many asymmetries and paradoxes,” he said. “They need to be addressed head on.”