Playboy™ Posted October 5, 2016 Posted October 5, 2016 Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is poised to become the next UN secretary general, UN diplomats say. Mr Guterres, 66, was the "clear favourite", Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin announced on Wednesday. A formal vote will take place in the UN Security Council on Thursday to confirm the choice of nominee. Mr Guterres, who led the UN refugee agency for 10 years, will take over from Ban Ki-moon early next year. Who is he? An engineer by trade, Mr Guterres first entered into politics in 1976 in Portugal's first democratic election after the "Carnation revolution" that ended five decades of dictatorship. He quickly rose in the ranks, becoming leader of the Socialist party in 1992 and was elected prime minister in 1995. As head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, Mr Guterres led the agency through some of the world's worst refugee crises, including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq. During that time, he repeatedly appealed to Western states to do more to help refugees fleeing the conflicts. Former Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva said earlier this year that Mr Guterres had "left a legacy" at the refugee agency "that means today he is a respected voice and all the world listens to him", according to the AFP news agency. Quote
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