Rebeca Grynspan leads the race for the next United Nations Secretary-General, with recent Security Council straw polls showing her extending support to 12 encourage votes and three discourage in the November 5 round. As the Costa Rican nominee and current head of UN Trade and Development, her positioning aligns with the informal regional rotation favoring Latin American and Caribbean candidates, alongside her multilateral experience and broad diplomatic backing. Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, holds second place with nine encourage votes, while Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and the UAE’s Lana Nusseibeh follow with eight and seven, respectively. The process requires at least nine Security Council votes without a permanent member veto before General Assembly confirmation, with António Guterres’ term ending December 31, 2026. Multiple rounds of closed-door polling continue to shape trader assessments of viable paths forward.