1991 United Nations Secretary-General selection

1991 United Nations Secretary-General selection
← 1981 10 October 1991 – 21 November 1991 1996 →
 
Candidate Boutros Boutros-Ghali Bernard Chidzero Olusegun Obasanjo
Country  Egypt  Zimbabwe  Nigeria
Best vote
11 / 15
10 / 15
9 / 15
Vetoes None None None
Round 6th straw poll
21 November 1991 		2nd straw poll
21 October 1991 		4th straw poll
11 November 1991
UN Secretary-General before election

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

 Elected UN Secretary-General

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

A United Nations Secretary-General selection was held in 1991 to replace Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, whose second term would end on 31 December 1991. Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt was selected for a term ending on 31 December 1996, becoming the first Secretary-General from Africa.

The 1991 selection took place at a time of expectations for a "new world order," in which the United Nations would no longer be paralyzed by the superpower conflict of the Cold War.[1] The expectations appeared to be fulfilled when the 1991 selection became the smoothest open selection in decades. No vetoes were cast against any of the African candidates on the ballot in 1991, in sharp contrast to the deadlocked 1981 selection and 1971 selection.[2] For the first time, the straw polling procedure was used from the first round of voting, establishing the innovation first tried in 1981 as the standard procedure for future selections. The 1991 selection also established the principle of regional rotation of the Secretary-Generalship, as the Third World countries voted as a bloc to deny the office to any non-African candidate.

  1. ^ Goshko, John M. (4 August 1991). "World's Diplomats Begin Jockeying to Pick New U.N. Secretary General". The Washington Post.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes19911122 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).