Candidates for position of next UN Secretary-General to take part  in globally televised Townhall event 

For the first time, candidates for the position of next Secretary-General will take part in a globally televised and webcast event in the General Assembly Hall and take questions from diplomats and the public at large, the UN said in a statement. 

Entitled: “Leading the United Nations: A Global Townhall with UN Secretary-General candidates”, the event will take place on Tuesday, 12 July 2016, from 6.00p.m – 9.00p.m EST and be webcast and broadcast live by UN TV and Al Jazeera Media Network across multiple broadcast and social media channels. 

"In the past, UN Secretaries-General have been chosen behind closed doors. This time, we want  to ensure all UN member states and the entire world have a chance to know who the candidates are, what their vision is and see how they perform,”  the President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft was quoted in a statement as saying. ”This Townhall is another way to enhance public interest in the mission and work of the United Nations and the need for the best possible candidate for our next Secretary-General." 

Ten of the 12 official candidates, nominated by their governments to take over at the helm of the UN Secretariat when current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon leaves at the end of the year, will be engaged in a wide-ranging 60-minute discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing the organization. They will each be given the opportunity at the start to make their case for the job and explain their vision. 

The General Assembly Hall’s 1,900 seats are expected to be filled to capacity with ambassadors, diplomats, UN staff, journalists and leaders from business and civil society. UN-accredited journalists are also invited to film and record from the media booths. 

The 10-confirmed candidates will be split into two groups of five (determined by draw of lots) for a one-hour discussion and Q and A led by moderators James Bays and Folly Bah Thibault from Al Jazeera English. Questions to the candidates from Member States and the global public will come from the floor and via video from around the world. 

Both UN Television and Al Jazeera will provide broadcast feeds and UN Web TV will stream the event live online and on mobile devices at webtv.un.org.  Al Jazeera will broadcast, stream and report across its global broadcast and digital platforms. 

This Townhall event is distinct from the UN General Assembly mandated two-hour informal dialogues with candidates that have taken place over the past few months and that will continue to be held as further candidates are presented. The next one of those will be on Thursday 14 July at 11am EST when Christiana Figueres will take her turn. 

The  First group is to comprise Vesna Pusiæ Croatia), António Guterres (Portugal) Susana Malcorra (Argentina), Vuk Jeremiæ (Serbia) and Natalia Gherman (Moldova). 

Second group: Helen Clark (New Zealand), Danilo Türk (Slovenia), Christiana Figueres (Costa Rica), Igor Luk¹iæ (Montenegro) and Irina Bokova (Bulgaria). 

The two candidates unable to attend the event in New York are Srgjan Kerim (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and Miroslav Lajèák (Slovak Republic).