Winds Of Change Blowing At U.N.

Ban Ki-Moon, 67, Is Likely To Succeed Annan As Secretary-General

(CBS/AP)  Ban would take the helm of an organization with some 92,000 peacekeepers around the world, a $2 billion annual operating budget and programs to fight hunger, assist refugees and slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He would have to counter widely held perceptions that he lacks charisma and is too closely tied to the United States. He says that, if elected, he will focus on his role as the world's top diplomat and leave the U.N.'s day-to-day operations primarily to a deputy.

Given Ban's ties to the U.S., his near-certain election would likely be seen as a victory for U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who had pushed for the process to be wrapped up by mid-October to give Annan's successor time to prepare for the job. Annan had only two weeks when he was selected in mid-December, 1996.

Bolton said he had "a lot of respect" for Ban, though he later told reporters that he had wanted more than the seven who contended for the job. He had earlier dropped his opposition to the popular belief the next secretary-general should come from Asia because of a tradition that the post rotate among the regions of the world. The last Asian secretary-general was Burma's U Thant, who served from 1961-71.

"I wish there had been more candidates, and I wish there had been more candidates on a global basis, but it is what it is," Bolton said. "We can't make candidates. We can only make available the circumstances for them to declare themselves."

Annan, who steps down on Dec. 31, was himself a compromise candidate in 1996 who emerged late and only after the United States blocked Boutros Boutros-Ghali's bid for a second five-year term. Annan's example also shows how unpredictable the process can be: during informal polling at the time, France consistently opposed him before changing its vote at the last minute.

Tharoor received 10 favorable votes and three against. One of those negative votes was a veto. Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga was next with five in favor, six against - including two vetoes - and four undecided votes.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who was the first to announce his candidacy last year, and former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani each received four votes in favor. But Ghani had 11 votes against him including three vetoes, and Surakiart had seven no-votes, among them two vetoes.

Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein, had only two votes in favor and eight against, with one veto.

The seventh candidate, Sri Lanka's Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. disarmament chief, withdrew after a poor showing in the third informal poll last week.