Lana Nusseibeh thanks Cyprus for backing her bid to lead UN

Nicosia, Cyprus. Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh has expressed gratitude to Cyprus and Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos for backing her candidacy to become UN secretary-general. Antonio Guterres, the current officeholder, is due to retire at year-end.

Nomination follows deadlocked polls

Nusseibeh said dialogue and compromise had value because they could deliver practical outcomes, rather than being objectives in their own right. She described that approach as the active diplomacy she could offer as secretary-general.

Her nomination came last Wednesday following several inconclusive straw polls among UN Security Council members. On October 16, each of the seven candidates then in contention had received negative responses from at least two permanent members of the five-member group.

Since her nomination, Nusseibeh has secured backing from the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose membership consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Lebanon, the Maldives, North Macedonia, Albania, Kazakhstan and Cyprus have also endorsed her. Bahrain currently holds a non-permanent seat on the Security Council.

Report points to possible Orban candidacy

Another Security Council straw poll is anticipated on Friday, but uncertainty remains over Nusseibeh’s prospects. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources in three countries, that the United States was urging former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban to pursue the post.

Orban held Hungary’s premiership from 2010 until May this year. His position towards Russia, considerably softer than that of most fellow EU leaders, attracted strong criticism during his tenure.

Days before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Orban met Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the invasion, he repeatedly delayed EU assistance to Ukraine and moves to sanction Russia, continuing until he was ousted earlier this year.

Earlier EU criticism over Cyprus

Orban also faced EU criticism in 2024 over his participation in an Organisation of Turkic States summit in Kyrgyzstan, where he shared a meal alongside Ersin Tatar, then the Turkish Cypriot leader.

Josep Borrell, who was serving as EU foreign policy chief, said Hungary had no European Council mandate to develop relations with the OTS. He also said the EU opposed OTS efforts to confer legitimacy on the secessionist Turkish Cypriot entity.