South Korea's Ban likely successor to UN chief Annan

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon has won all the "encourage" votes of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, one of the key prerequisites for his succession to the post of UN chief.

The career diplomat, 62, received 14 encouraging and one "no opinion" votes in an informal poll conducted on Monday to select a successor to UN chief Kofi Annan, UN diplomats said. Ban met with no opposition from any of the five major powers who in practice dominate the selection process.

An official vote is scheduled on Oct. 9 after which recommendation will be made to the UN General Assembly for confirmation.

"It is quite clear from today's straw poll that minister Ban Ki- Moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend" to the General Assembly, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters after the vote.

Under the UN Charter, the secretary general is elected by the 192-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council, whose five permanent members -- the United States, China, France, Britain and Russia -- have veto power.

A candidate needs at least nine votes in favor from the 15- member council and no veto from any of the permanent members.

As in the previous three straw polls, the 15 council members chose among the options of "encourage," "discourage" and "no opinion" printed on each ballot sheet.

The difference is that colored ballot sheets were used in Monday's poll to distinguish votes between the five permanent members -- France, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, and the other 10 nonpermanent members.

In Monday's poll, the five major powers used blue ballot sheets while their nonpermanent counterparts cast white ones.

Source: Xinhua