Bulgarian government nominates Kristalina Georgieva to be UN Secretary-General
The Bulgarian government is nominating its European Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva for the post of United Nations Secretary-General, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said as the Cabinet met on September 28.
The change was made on the recommendation of Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov.
Mitov said that Bulgaria was transferring its support from Irina Bokova to Georgieva because the government believed that Georgieva had a serious chance of winning the race to become UN Secretary-General.
Borissov said that Bulgaria had made tremendous efforts, including by the Presidency and the Foreign Ministry, on behalf of Bokova, who – Borissov said – had “worked really hard” at her candidacy.
In the most recent straw poll among UN Security Council members, Bokova ranked only sixth, at the same time losing her previous place as the woman candidate with the most votes.
Borissov had said on September 13 that unless Bokova ranked in one of the top two places in the September 26 “straw poll” by the Security Council, his government would rethink its candidacy.
The Prime Minister referred to calls for the next head of the world body to be a woman from Eastern Europe and, he said, “we believe (Georgieva) will be a successful candidate”.
Mitov said that Bulgaria was seeking the support of all the countries of Eastern Europe.
“I want to thanks Mrs Bokova, but we must transfer our support to Kristalina Georgieva,” Mitov said.
Earlier, local media reported Bokova as having said in an interview that she saw “no serious reason” to withdraw her candidacy.
