On December 31, 2016, UN’s president Ban ki Moon will end his second term at the head of the institution and will not seek a third one.

Among the candidates to replace him are Bulgarian Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s director, Helen Clark, UNDP’s director and former President of New-Zealand, and Portuguese Antonio Guterres who headed HCR.

Others are also announced for the position. These include Slovenia’s ex-president Danilo Türk and various ex-ministers of foreign affairs of European nations: Vesna Pusic from Croatia, Natalia Gherma from Moldavia, Srgian Kerim from Macedonia and Igor Luksic from Montenegro.

Though the candidates are presented and selected in front of UN’s General Assembly, the five permanent members of Security Council have a veto right on the process.

Before Ban ki Moon the following headed UN: British Gladwyn Jebb (interim in 45-46), Trygve Lie (Norway), Dag Hammarskjöld, U Thant (Burma), Kurt Waldheim (Austria), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) and Koffi Annan (Ghana).