India, Sept. 21 -- The race to succeed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remains wide open ahead of his departure on December 31. Three informal straw polls have produced no consensus among eight candidates as nearly 130 heads of state and government gather for the UN General Assembly's high-level week.

The Security Council's third round of secret, nonbinding voting on September 18 left the contest unchanged. Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica led with nine "encourage" votes and five "discourage" votes, followed by Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett with eight "encourage" and six "discourage" votes.

Neither candidate has yet overcome the possibility of a veto by one of the five permanent Security Council members. Although the General Ass...