Cheques, chocolates and wrist watches: Vote buying at UN elections

NEW YORK - In most of the hard-fought elections for high-ranking jobs in inter-governmental organisations, the highly qualified and most competent candidates do not necessarily win. The elections at the UN, for example, are usually tainted by politics, bribery, cheque book diplomacy and subtle donor threats (to cut off aid).

At one of the elections many moons ago, there were rumours that an oil-soaked Middle Eastern country was doling out gold wrist watches to UN diplomats as a trade-off for their votes in support of an Arab candidate.

So when the hands went up at voting time -- long before the emergence of electronic voting -- the most number of hands raised in favour of the oil-blessed candidate all sported gold watches. As anecdotes go, it symbolizes the corruption that prevails in voting in inter-governmental organizations -- perhaps much like most national elections the world over.

Farouk Hosny	Guy-Alain Gauze

Last week, there were widely-circulated stories of two upcoming elections -- one for the post of Director-General of the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the other for Secretary-General of the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD -- that were deeply embroiled in controversies.

Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosny, a front runner for the job of UNESCO head, has come in for heavy criticism, specifically by the Jewish lobby, for making a statement that Israeli books in Egyptian libraries should be burned. Although he has apologized for the statement made in the Egyptian Parliament last year, Jewish organisations are not forgiving.

The political controversy is threatening to derail his candidacy which is backed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. And in an equally interesting development, there are news reports that Mubarak apparently has received support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Egyptian candidate -- warts and all.

As a result of the political uproar, several new candidates have thrown their hats into the ring, including the current European Union Commissioner for External Affairs Benita Ferraro-Waldner, a former Foreign Minister of Austria. The bruising battle is expected to reach its climax during election time in Paris in October.

When the outgoing UNESCO head Koichiro Matsuura of Japan ran for office in October 1999, he was opposed by a Saudi candidate. But both Japan and Saudi Arabia were accused of cheque book diplomacy: offering increased aid to countries supporting their candidatures.

In a Paris-datelined story at that time, the New York Times said that UNESCO headquarters was "buzzing with rumours that the Japanese and Saudi governments had promised generous aid packages to several Third World countries in exchange for their votes." Not surprisingly, however, "both Japanese and Saudi diplomats strongly denied engaging in such cheque book diplomacy", the Times added.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is that if you have deep pockets -- and are willing to dole out goodies to the world's poorer nations -- you have a better chance of beating a candidate even if he or she is armed with superior credentials.

The Sri Lankan candidate, Ambassador Senake Bandaranaike, despite his strong credentials and what was described as an impressive presentation before the UNESCO Executive Board, collected only four votes in the first round of balloting and two in the second, forcing him to withdraw his candidature in the third round.

Meanwhile, the 130-member Group of 77 (G77), the largest single coalition of developing countries, is heading for a political confrontation with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the re-appointment of the head of UNCTAD in Geneva.

Ban has indicated to the G77 his "intention" to renew the term of office of the existing head, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand, who completes a four year stint as UNCTAD Secretary-General, come Aug 31.
As befits longstanding tradition, the secretary-general is expected to consult with the G77 since the post of UNCTAD secretary-general has always been held by a national of a developing country. Sri Lanka's Dr Gamani Corea held that post with distinction for 10 long years, 1974 through 1984.

But at a closed door meeting last week, the G77 did not take a decision to endorse Ban's proposal to renew Supachai's term of office for an additional four years -- primarily because Africa is expected to field two candidates.

The two aspirants for the job are Guy-Alain Gauze, former minister of commodities and foreign trade of Cote d'Ivoire, described as the front-runner, and Mukhisa Kituyi, a social anthropologist and an opposition parliamentarian from Kenya.

A final decision on the African candidate, however, is expected to be taken at the upcoming African Union (AU) heads of state meeting in Libya June 24-July 3.

But the possibility of three candidates vying for the job has led to rumours of candidates promising lucrative UN jobs for diplomats supporting their candidatures -- even as one candidate is accused of unloading boxes of Swiss chocolates to delegates in New York.

Rolexes for votes? Or Toblerones for votes? Take your pick.