India, Aug. 1 -- Former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Antonio Guterres as the next United Nations Secretary-General after securing the highest support in the first informal "straw poll" conducted by the Security Council, sources said.

The 15-nation UN Security Council on Thursday held its first closed-door "straw-poll", in which members cast a non-binding vote to indicate their support for the candidates in fray for the position of the world's top diplomat. According to sources, Grynspan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), received 10 "encourage" votes, one "discourage" vote and four "no opinion" votes.

Guyana's Permanent Repres...