Geneva: The race for the UN Secretary-General is now in its final stretch. Candidates initially emerged late last year, and with subsequent additions, seven names are now in contention. The appointment process is a tense affair, driven less by merit and more by finding a figure acceptable to the five permanent Security Council members – each holding a potential veto over the slate. Should tradition hold, it is Latin America and the Caribbean’s turn to lead the organisation, with the Security Council ideally forwarding a nominee to the General Assembly in early October, when the new session begins.Following several rounds of public debate hosted by the General Assembly president and a series of (closed) interviews with Security Council members, the first straw poll on July 30 indicates that considerable horse-trading lies ahead.Given the current geopolitical climate, the decision hinges on reconciling the positions of the US, Russia and China. Why the United Kingdom and France still retain a voice is a matter for another discussion, but it underscores the geopolitical biases and outdated customs that continue to (mis)shape the institution. Historical quirks aside, securing a consensus candidate will be no small feat.Many of the hopefuls have passed through Geneva’s multilateral crucible. The city has hosted multilateral bodies since the end of World War I and now houses roughly 40 international governmental organisations (including five UN specialised agencies), over 180 permanent missions, and a host of international NGOs. The agenda is broad and varied, though dominated by a handful of major issues – trade, refugees, health, human rights, telecommunications, intellectual property and labour.The sheer breadth of topics places a heavy burden on developing countries with small missions, allowing wealthier nations – with ample resources both locally and at home – to steer proceedings. Even China and India can find themselves overwhelmed. Proposals to reduce Geneva’s footprint, for fiscal and logistical reasons, hold genuine merit and will likely land high on the next Secretary-General’s priority list.The candidatesMost candidates have strong ties to the city. Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, from Costa Rica, has led UNCTAD for the past six years; Michelle Bachelet Jeria served four years as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett headed the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) office in Geneva for three years. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés from Ecuador and Rafael Mariano Grossi from Argentina were their countries’ envoys to the UN in Geneva; Olara Otunnu chaired the UN Human Rights Commission, though not based in Geneva. And lest we forget, the current UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, was a long-time UN employee in the city. L-R: (top) Rebeca Grynspan, Michelle Bachelet, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; (bottom) Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Rafael Grossi, and Olara Otunnu. Photos: United NationsBut is international Geneva truly the place to cultivate the skills required to revitalise a deeply troubled institution?Two candidates are deeply enmeshed in this milieu. Bachelet, with a distinguished human rights record rooted in her family’s Chilean experience, was a forceful head of the human rights body. This brought her into conflict with the US over reproductive rights; she was also pressed by Western nations to organize a mission to China regarding the Uyghur situation. The finding of possible “crimes against humanity” angered Beijing, while her refusal to label it genocide displeased Washington. Many UN observers view a veto of her candidacy as probable.Grynspan, an economist by training, has leveraged her UNCTAD tenure to bolster an otherwise limited diplomatic résumé. With UNCTAD’s heyday long past, she has cited her role in the Black Sea Grain Initiative to combat hunger during the Ukraine War’s early phase – though this claim is questionable – and has pointed to UNCTAD’s work on the Palestinian economy, which long predates her arrival and is mandated by UNCTAD’s governing body and the General Assembly. Yet, she has shown little enthusiasm for promoting that work, with press conferences on the reports disappearing under her watch. Despite UNCTAD’s mandate to pursue development-friendly changes to global trade rules, Grynspan has not tackled developing countries’ challenges at the WTO, instead cultivating a cozy rapport with the current Director-General.Rodrigues-Birkett’s stint at the FAO liaison office also prompts questions about the actual function of such highly paid roles. Numerous such offices – and many more positions – exist in Geneva and New York, of debatable value in an era of instant communication. This will undoubtedly feed into broader debates on the geographic distribution of UN offices and whether the organisation deploys its resources effectively.Grossi’s UN background is Vienna-based, another European headquarters. His reluctance to resign as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has stirred concerns that he is exploiting his position in his bid for the top job. While the cosmopolitan elite raised no such objections when Helen Clark ran for Secretary-General in 2016 while heading UNDP, this could be a weighty accusation for the Security Council to consider, given its emphasis on integrity and transparency. And according to UNCTAD sources, Grynspan has similarly continued to draw on agency resources for her campaign.The truth is that Geneva harbours too many agencies, too many NGOs, and too comfortable a lifestyle to forge the calibre of character the UN now demands, as it seeks profound shifts in its mandate and operations. Whether the ongoing selection process will yield the right person to make those changes remains to be seen.Ravi Kanth Devarakonda is a financial journalist based in Switzerland.