unsg (13. 375)

With auditions for the leadership role only governed by custom and consensus and not specifically enshrined by charter, rotating by region after each five-year term (though the length is also discretionary and upheld by the office-holder, subject to renewal) with Latin America due for the turn and reserved for the middle-powers, by tradition members from the Security Council excluded, few have this session have put themselves forward for the job of United Nations secretary-general, only four candidates compared with the thirteen contenders under consideration during the selection process of 2016. At a time when norms have been proven insufficient to contain imperial ambitions, particularly with the US allowing a magisterial presidency, record numbers of veteran senators and congressional representatives retiring—which whilst not a universal condition, the home-grown breach in ceremony is an export—in response to that power imbalance, the influence of the UN ill-equipped to mediate the divide between world powers, blocked by permanent members who have vetoed stopping the fighting in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran (whom also reserve the right to overturn a nomination by the general assembly for leader), the position appears rather thankless. The frontrunner, Michelle Bachelet, former Chilean president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is already facing opposition from the American delegation over her gender and purported extremist agenda.