NEW YORK (AA) – Antonio Guterres is set to become the next United Nations Secretary General after the Security Council appears united in support for the former head of the global body's refugee agency.
The 67-year-old former Portuguese prime minister will succeed Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, being elected to the UN's top post after running a campaign beginning in July, which marks a break from a traditionally secretive election process.
Early Wednesday, Guterres aced the 15-member Security Council's sixth straw poll that was held to recommend a secretary general for endorsement by the General Assembly.
Thirteen countries endorsed his candidacy with no dissenting votes and, more importantly, none of the five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, U.K. and the U.S. -- opposed his candidacy.
UN ambassadors also welcomed his rise. U.S. ambassador Samantha Power hailed a "remarkably uncontentious, uncontroversial" choice in Guterres, suggesting that the choice came down to the "performance and experience of the candidate".
"So in the end, there was just a candidate whose experience, vision, and versatility across a range of areas proved compelling," Power said.
Britain's ambassador Matthew Rycroft was "delighted" with the vote and described Guterres as "exactly the strong Secretary-General the UN needs."
Guterres appears uniquely poised for the top job on account of his decade-long experience with the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, in a global climate gripped in a refugee crisis the likes of which have not been seen since World War II.
The world now has 65 million people displaced from their homes, including 21 million who have had to seek refuge in other countries.
Guterres "oversaw the most profound structural reform process in UNHCR’s history and built up our organization’s capacity," the organization said of its former leader on its website.
In his final speech before the end of his tenure last December, Guterres called for better international cooperation for refugees, including a "new deal" between Europe and Syria's neighbors.
He pointed to the importance of supporting Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan "to prevent refugees from slipping further into destitution and to help governments cope with the increased pressure”.
He also criticized a weak global refugee response, adding that "Those that reject Syrian refugees because they are Muslims are the best allies in the recruitment propaganda of extremist groups."
- A life of public service -
As he prepares to assume one of the most visible diplomatic positions in the world, Guterres' long personal history of public service appears his greatest strength.
Finishing high school as Portugal's top student in the 1960s and studying physics and electrical engineering at a university, Guterres had a three-year stint as an academic, after which he launched a political career that would span three decades and take him all the way to the prime minister's office.
Guterres first became involved with the Socialist Party in 1974 shortly after the Carnation Revolution -- a bloodless coup that ended a dictatorship -- and he held local and national positions before becoming the party's secretary general in 1992.
Three years later, he became Prime Minister of Portugal when the Socialist Party won general elections.
He enjoyed a successful first term with economic expansion that also saw the country host Expo 98 that helped to boost Portugal's economic and political status.
Guterres was re-elected in 1999 and held the presidency of the European Council in 2000.
However, the second term was markedly different, with a Socialist Party hurt by internal conflict performing poorly in local polls, which prompted Guterres to resign in 2001.
He then retired from national politics and for four years devoted his attention to Socialist International, a supranational body of socialist political parties.
In May 2005, Guterres was named by the UN General Assembly as High Commissioner for Refugees. For a decade, he oversaw operations of one of the world's leading humanitarian networks, employing nearly 10,000 people -- most of them working in the field in 126 countries -- with an annual budget of more than $6 billion in 2015.
After leaving office in last December, Guterres announced his candidacy for UN secretary general in February.
The office's term length is five years. His two immediate predecessors, Ban Ki-moon and Kofi Annan, were each elected to a second term.