Sources have added that the third secret straw poll in the United Nations Security Council on candidates to succeed Ban Ki-Moon as UN Secretary General suggests consensus remains elusive, while Antonio Guterres of Portugal led the pack on Monday.
It is stated that as the process of choosing a new chief of world diplomacy has kicked off earlier this year there was some shared sense that an East European would suit the region has never sent one of their own to the top floor of UN headquarters and possibly also a woman, for the first time.
Meanwhile a former Prime Minister of Portugal and until recently the head of United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNCHR, where he served for a decade, Mr Guterres has become a favorite when he has come out top in the last straw poll taken at the start of August.
Sources have stated that New Zealand Prime Minister John Key had said before the vote that he would continue to back Ms Clark, who was seventh in the last poll also, has also argued that a deadlock in the Council could yet mean she could emerge as a compromise candidate.
