BUENOS AIRES, September 20. /TASS/. Former President of Chile and former UN Commissioner for Human Rights (2018-2022) Michelle Bachelet announced that she was withdrawing her nomination to become the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

"Today I announce that I have decided not to continue with my candidacy for the Secretary-General of the United Nations," she said in a video posted on Instagram (Instagram is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

Bachelet thanked Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum for nominating and supporting her.

"I do not regret having undertaken this great challenge. We helped place on the global agenda the conviction that the next Secretary-General should be a woman from Latin America: someone truly independent, loyal to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and prepared to uphold them firmly before all States regardless of their size and power," she said.

The UN will begin choosing its next chief on July 24, and the selection will end as soon as one candidate secures nine votes, including five from the UN Security Council’s veto-wielding members. The term of the current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expires on December 31, 2026. At this point, the list of official candidates includes Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, ex-President of Senegal Macky Sall, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan, Ecuador’s former Foreign and Defense Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Guyana’s former UN envoy Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and Ecuador’s former Ambassador to the United States and France, Ivonne A-Baki.