The Race to Lead the UN Explained

With António Guterres' approaching the end of his second term as the UN Secretary-General, four candidates have lined up to take the reign. In this video, we're taking a look at the upcoming selection, who's running, who decides and the challenges they face.

📰 Too Long: https://toolong.news/ 🎉 TLDR Party: https://toolong.news/pages/tldr-party 📖 Read our Manifesto: https://tldrnews.co.uk/manifesto

Our mission is to explain news and politics in an impartial, efficient, and accessible way, balancing import and interest while fostering independent thought.

TLDR is a completely independent & privately owned media company that's not afraid to tackle the issues we think are most important. The channel is run by a small group of young people, with us hoping to pass on our enthusiasm for politics to other young people. We are primarily fan sourced with most of our funding coming from donations and ad revenue. No shady corporations, no one telling us what to say. We can't wait to grow further and help more people get informed. Help support us by subscribing, engaging and sharing. Thanks!

Sources “The most impossible job on this earth”: https://news.un.org/en/spotlight/character-sketches-trygve-lie-brian-urquhart

Role of the Secretary-General: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/the-role-of-the-secretary-general https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167323

UN’s funding crisis and other crises: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr579mdv4m7o https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/why-is-un-warning-imminent-financial-collapse-2026-02-04/ https://www.crisisgroup.org/cmt/global/prioritising-peace-what-un-should-ask-its-next-secretary-general

Selection process: https://unric.org/en/next-un-secretary-general-2026-candidates-process/ https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167323

Candidates’ CVs and vision statements: https://1for8billion.org/candidates-and-speculation

Analysis of candidates’ pitches and dialogues: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5IWmAW2vb1nrhsI0n0U2FC?si=98fdab9ed5fd4cde https://www.reuters.com/world/who-are-candidates-running-un-secretary-general-2026-04-21/ https://genevasolutions.news/global-news/race-to-lead-the-un-candidates-face-the-grill-on-peace-reform-and-great-power-tensions https://passblue.com/2026/04/21/michelle-bachelet-and-rafael-grossi-each-a-candidate-for-un-boss-kick-off-public-dialogues/ https://passblue.com/2026/04/23/rebeca-grynspan-and-macky-sall-each-push-their-bids-to-lead-the-un/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/24/united-nations-secretary-general-argentina-chile-costa-rica/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/un-leadership-candidate-grynspan-vows-peacemaking-reform-2026-04-22/

US Republicans oppose Bachelet candidacy: https://chrissmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2026-03-25_-_bicameral_letter_opposing_michelle_bachelet_as_unsg_w_signatures_final.pdf

Macky Sall’s mixed support in Africa: https://passblue.com/2026/04/20/why-macky-sall-cant-count-on-africa-in-his-bid-to-lead-the-un/ https://www.reuters.com/world/who-are-candidates-running-un-secretary-general-2026-04-21/

Prospect of other candidates jumping into the race: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5IWmAW2vb1nrhsI0n0U2FC?si=98fdab9ed5fd4cde