Irina Bokova, Bulgaria’s former Foreign Minister and current UNESCO Director-General, appears to be "by far the strongest candidate from Eastern Europe" to be the next UN Secretary General, a recent ranking shows.

Having an average score of 4.5 places here "head and shoulders above the others", whereas EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva is one of "the two weakest candidates", according to a ranking of the the Diplomatic Courier, the global affairs media network.

Recalling the likelihood of an Eastern European being elected to take over from Ban Ki-moon as the next UN Secretary General (and despite strong push from different groups that the successor should be female), the author has evaluated candidates' positions on a number of issues that have formed the agenda of Ban such as climate change, indigenous rights and Arctic issues.

"The next UNSG faces challenges both new and old, and each candidate will take the opportunity to articulate their vision for the organization and the global challenges that urgently need to be addressed under their leadership."

"Several leading candidates are already in the rumor mill, but what has been lacking until now is a comprehensive analysis of each individual’s attributes and suitability for the role," the DC adds before presenting its assessment of the suitability of different candidates for the position.

Apart from Bokova, leading contenders included in the analysis include European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva; former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremi?; the former Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Srgjan Kerim; Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan J?n Kubi? from Slovakia; Miroslav Laj??k, his successor as Slovakia’s Foreign Minister; Igor Luk?i?, the former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister of Montenegro; Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vesna Pusi?; and Danilo T?rk, the former President of Slovenia.

(As regards Slovakia and Bulgaria, two candidates are pointed from each of the respective countries, with their governments not having submitted an official endorsement for either of them to the United Nations as of January 08, 2015).

The methodology and criteria are based on "a series of qualifying recommendations and attributes that the most suitable candidates should possess" issued by the United Nations General Assembly last year. A mark is assigned (1 = poor score, 5 = excellent score) to show how each candidate matches the criteria mentioned in the article.

The full text is available here.

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