NEW YORK - Two rounds of unofficial balloting for the post of UN secretary general ended inconclusively yesterday, with all four African candidates getting at least one potential veto from a permanent member of the Security Council.
Mr Kofi Annan of Ghana, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, led in the more important second round of informal voting and was the only candidate to get more than the nine votes required, diplomats said. But he received one negative vote from a permanent member, said to be France, which prefers candidates from its former French-speaking colonies.