France, Aug. 9 -- The UN is entering the final stages of choosing a successor to Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on 31 December.

Under the UN Charter, the selection is led by the 15-member Security Council, which holds a series of confidential, non-binding "straw polls" to test support for candidates.

In these ballots, members vote to "encourage", "discourage" or express "no opinion" on each contender.

Later rounds use colour-coded ballots to reveal whether any of the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) intend to exercise their veto.

The first straw poll took place on 30 July, with further rounds expected throughout August and potentially into September and October until ...