Senegal's Macky Sall withdraws from race for UN top job

Senegal’s former president Macky Sall is pulling out of the race to lead the United Nations.

Saturday's announcement comes one day after an informal straw poll by UN Security Council members saw all seven candidates receive at least one veto.

In a statement on social media, Sall said he “hoped to contribute now to the emergence of a consensus candidate.”

Candidates need nine ‘encourage’ votes from the Council’s 15 members. ‘Discourage’ votes from any of the body’s five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - effectively constitute a veto.

After a first straw poll in July, Sall received just six votes in favour, with seven against and two abstentions.

None of the polls so far are binding and other rounds will take place before the final ballot in the autumn.

After Friday’s poll, Costa Rica’s Rebecca Grynspan remains the frontrunner, with seven positive votes. But she also but she also got five ‘discourage’ votes - including two from permanent members.

Senegal initially refused to back Sall's bid for the top UN job and he was nominated for the post by Burundi. But Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye threw his support behind Sall in July after a meeting between the two men.

It is tradition that the UN's top job should rotate between different regions. Under that premise, the role should go to a candidate from Latin America this time and most of the seven candidates are from the region.

Sall’s withdrawal leaves Uganda’s Olara Otunnu as the only African contender.