Shashi Tharoor - Campaign For Secretary-General: 2007

Campaign For Secretary-General: 2007

See also: United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2006

2007 Secretary-General candidates
	Name	Position
	Ban Ki-moon	South Korean foreign minister
	Shashi Tharoor	Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for public information; from India
	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga	President of Latvia
	Ashraf Ghani	Chancellor of Kabul University, Afghanistan
	Surakiart Sathirathai	Deputy prime minister of Thailand
	Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad	Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations
	Jayantha Dhanapala	Former Under-Secretary-General for disarmament; from Sri Lanka

Wikinews has related news: Shashi Tharoor withdrawing candidacy

In 2006, Tharoor was nominated by the Government of India for the post of UN Secretary General. Tharoor came a close second (behind Ban Ki-moon) in each of the four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Council and won the online poll conducted by the BBC News website. After the fourth poll, Ban emerged as the only candidate with the support of all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates. Of the seven contenders for the post, Tharoor remained the only other to enjoy a majority in the Security Council. One Permanent Member (later revealed to be the US under the Bush Administration) opposed and China abstained from voting. After the vote, Tharoor withdrew his candidacy expressing his confidence for Ban to win.

Had he been elected, the then 50 year old Shashi Tharoor would have been the second-youngest Secretary-General to be appointed to the post. The first being Dag Hammarskjöld who was appointed at the age of 46 years.