Jakarta. Indonesia is hoping that the new UN chief will deliver concrete results as the current secretary-general António Guterres is on his way out.

Guterres will step down from his second five-year term by the end of 2026. The race to find his replacement is now in motion. Speaking from the UN’s marble podium over the weekend, Foreign Minister Sugiono laid out Jakarta’s expectations for Guterres’ successor.

“The next secretary-general will carry an equally important responsibility to uphold the [UN] Charter, strengthen the organization, and to translate multilateralism into concrete results for people,” Sugiono told the UN hall in New York. 

Sugiono, who goes by one name, did not openly declare Jakarta’s support for a specific candidate in the 18-minute speech. 

For Indonesia, Guterres had led the eighty-one-year-old group through an “exceptionally challenging period”. UN members have been engaging in dialogues and collectively solving problems amid wars, the Covid-19 pandemic, humanitarian emergencies, and technological advancements over the past decade, according to the minister.

But whoever wins the polls later, Sugiono reminded that the onus was also on the member countries “to make multilateralism work”.

“Indonesia is prepared to carry its share, as our constitution mandates us to contribute to a world based on freedom, lasting peace, and social justice,” Sugiono said.

Seven individuals are vying for the coveted UN’s top job, including Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki and its ex-foreign minister María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés. UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi from Argentina, Ugandan veteran diplomat Olara Otunnu, former Senegalese President Macky Sall, Costa Rican economist Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, and ex-Guyanese Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett are in the running.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria and Virginia Gamba —  who was Guterres’ aide for armed conflicts — have withdrawn from the race. 

A candidate must win at least nine votes from the 15-member UN Security Council with no veto by any of the five permanent members: the US, the UK, China, Russia, and France. The General Assembly will then appoint the person to the role.

In his final address to the UN General Assembly, Guterres warned that the world’s future would rest on how it addresses wars, inequality, climate crisis, and artificial intelligence (AI). Guterres also gave a glimpse into what he would pursue post-resignation, saying he would “never ever give up” the UN Charter values. 

“Wherever I will be, whatever I will be doing, I will keep championing the conviction that peace is possible, that human dignity is universal,” Guterres said earlier this week.

“That the power of law must prevail over the law of power, and that our common future is worth fighting for.”

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