Ban retains lead in UN leader race

UNITED NATIONS - South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon retained his lead in an informal Security Council poll for U.N. secretary-general on Thursday but received one less vote than on the previous ballot, diplomats said.

South Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki-Moon, seen here, won a third informal straw poll in the United Nations Security Council to decide who will succeed Kofi Annan as UN chief, diplomats said. [AFP]

But Ban was comfortably ahead of Shashi Tharoor, the Indian U.N. undersecretary-general for public information, who was in second place.

The 15 Security Council ambassadors conducted an unofficial vote on the seven candidates vying for the job to replace U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who leaves office on December 31. The vote was unofficial but gives an indication of the final results.