A new informal vote on candidates to take over as the next United Nations Secretary General is to be held on September 09, a UN diplomat has said.

The announcement has been made by New Zealand's Ambassador to the UN, whose country is the rotating president of the United Nations Security Council this month.

New Zealand will hand over responsibilities for the straw polls to Russia as Helen Clark, one of the contenders, is from the country.

As many as twelve people had joined the race to take over from Ban Ki-moon at the time of the first straw poll, including UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova from Bulgaria who got the third-best result in the last poll.

Two candidates, Vesna Pusic of Croatia and Igor Luksic of Montenegro, have withdrawn their bids over the results of the first two polls.

A fifth round has been scheduled for September 26.

Another straw poll is expected early in October. Afterwards, a candidate approved by a majority of the fifteen United Nations Security Council member states (including all five permanent members) will be formally proposed by the UN General Assembly for consideration.

For the first time ever, the UNGA will be able to approve or disapprove the candidate and was able to subject all contenders to informal briefings earlier this year.