Bulgarian Government 'To Nominate Kristalina Georgieva' for UN Secretary General

The Bulgarian government will officially nominate Kristalina Georgieva for Secretary General of the UN, government sources say.

The announcement might be made as early as next week, at an extraordinary cabinet sitting on Tuesday, news website Mediapool quotes the sources as saying. 

Changing the nominee during the selection of the Secretary General does not set a precedent. The information comes hours after Talal Al-Haj, Chief for the Al-Arabiya news network with the UN, announced that Hungary, Latvia and Croatia, with the support of Germany, intend to nominate the Bulgarian European Commissioner for UN Secretary General.

Yesterday, Talal al-Haj explained that if Georgieva is nominated by three Eastern European countries, she will be a candidate of the right-wing European EPP. He added that her nomination was finalised during discussions at the last G-20 summit.

The chances of Bulgaria's current nomination, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, are growing slimmer as she failed to receive enough support and came fifth at the fourth UN Security Council straw poll that will determine the next Secretary General. 

Bulgaria's government has not commented on the issue. In theory, a second nomination cannot be submitted by a country unless the current candidate raised by it withdraws from the race.