Kevin Rudd an outside chance for UN secretary-general

The Turnbull government must decide within weeks whether to back Kevin Rudd’s tilt to be the next UN secretary-general.

Candidates for UN secretary-general.

The Turnbull government must decide within weeks whether to back Kevin Rudd’s tilt to replace UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when his term expires at the end of this year.

The Australian has confirmed that the former prime minister’s name is being actively considered for the prestigious post by UN diplomats in New York ahead of the contest to select the next secretar­y-general beginning in earnest.

UN member countries, including Australia, will be required within weeks to formally nomin­ate a candidate as part of a ­British-inspired UN resolution to inject more clarity into the selection of the world’s most powerful diplomatic role.

With the five permanent members of the Security Council having a veto over potential candidat­es, Mr Rudd remains a possible compromise candidate even if he is not officially put forwar­d by Australia.

He remains an outsider, despit­e what is being viewed in diplomatic circles as a concerted personal campaign to get himself in contention for the job.

A senior Australian diplomatic source rated Mr Rudd’s chances at 20 per cent. “His name is on the list,’’ the source told The ­Australian. “He’s on there but he’s not a top-level headliner at the ­moment.’’

Part of the reason Australian officials believe Mr Rudd has little chance is the geopolitical consideration held by some that it is time for Eastern Europe to have its “turn’’ to supply the secretary- general. There has also been a push within the UN for a woman to take the post.

But diplomatic sources say Mr Rudd has forged ties with the Obama administration and reached out to Australian and ­European officials.

This is creating a dilemma for the Turnbull government, with diplomats speculating that if Mr Rudd emerges as a contender, Australia will have no choice but to endorse him.

While former prime minister Tony Abbott made it clear he would not support Mr Rudd, the Turnbull government believes it would be able to avoid nominating any candidate if Mr Rudd remains­ an outsider in the race. There is also doubt among senior figures in the government as to whether they would be able to secur­e Labor backing for Mr Rudd.

Much will depend on whether a consensus emerges that the leading Eastern European contender is a strong candidate.

Mr Rudd has been running a below-the-radar campaign since moving to New York, where he is a member of the Asia Society Policy Institute. He also recently wrote a paper for the Harvard Kennedy School of Government on “Alternative Futures for US-China Relations’’. But a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd yesterday maintained that he was not a candidate. “The answer now, as it has been previously, is that Mr Rudd is not a candidate,’’ she said.

“Mr Rudd has made his position clear about the role of United Nations secretary-general numerous times and this should not distract from the hard work put into his Harvard Kennedy School report, nor from his ongoing foreign policy work.

“Appointments for the secretary-general of the UN are on a cyclical, geographical basis. The next rotation will be Eastern ­Europe, which has never had a secretary-general.”

Among the Eastern European frontrunners for the job is Irina Bakova from Bulgaria, the direct­or-general of UNESCO.

The names of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Hungarian President Janos Ader have also been floated.

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, the Macedonian ­former president of the UN ­General Assembly Srgjan Kerim, and former Slovenian president Danilo Turk have all been ­endorsed by their governments. However, there is speculation that vetoes by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, France, the US, China and Britain — could eliminate some of the Eastern ­European candidates, making way for a compromise candidate.