Former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic has withdrawn her nomination for the position of United Nations Secretary-General.

"After the first straw poll at the UN Security Council it became clear that the election of a new Secretary General will go into the direction of a candidate from the organization itself - a person who works or has worked at the United Nations," Pusic said in a statement released by the Croatian media on Thursday.

Pusic believes that she has no real chances to be selected, judging from the results of the first round of voting, even though several rounds of the selection process have yet to be completed before the Security Council makes its final choice.

"For this reason I withdraw my candidacy for Secretary General of the UN and I will not participate in further activities related to this election," Pusic said.

The United Nations Security Council is set to hold a second straw vote on 5 August on candidates vying to become the next UN Secretary-General, a diplomat has said.

Bulgaria's candidate, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, came third in the first straw poll, after Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres. He was followed by Danilo Turk, Slovenia's former President. Vesna Pusic received the lowest score among 12 candidates in that vote.

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