The selection of the UN Secretary-General involves nominations, published documents and public discussion. The 2025-2026 process for the tenth Secretary-General provides a worked example of how these elements connect. Its official description identifies transparency and inclusivity as guiding principles. Following the documents in sequence helps readers distinguish the rules for the process, the invitation to nominate, the material supplied by candidates and the Assembly presidency's role.
Article 97 and the two organs
The UN identifies Article 97 of its Charter as the Charter provision with which the selection and appointment process must align. The General Assembly and Security Council both appear at the opening stage: their Presidents issue the joint letter that initiates the process. The Assembly President also convenes interactive dialogues and engages with Member States.
These roles give readers an institutional map without requiring a focus on individual contenders. The General Assembly explainer and Security Council guide provide the wider context for the two organs. When reading a selection document, identifying its issuing office helps clarify which part of the process it describes.
Resolution 79/327 and the modern process
On 5 September 2025, the General Assembly adopted resolution 79/327 on the revitalization of its work. The UN's account says the resolution sets out the selection and appointment process in line with Article 97. It builds on earlier related resolutions that introduced improvements to the process.
The resolution and the later joint letter serve different purposes in the sequence. The resolution sets out the process; the letter formally starts it and invites nominations. Keeping those functions distinct makes the chronology easier to read. A date attached to the resolution should therefore be understood as the date of that Assembly decision, rather than the date of the invitation to nominate.
The joint letter that opens the process
The joint letter from the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council was published on 25 November 2025. Addressed to Member States, it invited nominations and outlined the process's principles and notional events. Its document symbol is A/80/544-S/2025/765.
The publication date and document symbol are useful reference points when comparing accounts of the selection. They identify the letter that formally initiated this cycle. The description of events as notional also calls for care: readers should distinguish the outline of a process from a record that a particular event has taken place.
Nominations, vision statements and disclosures
Candidates are nominated by a Member State or a group of Member States. They provide a vision statement, curriculum vitae and campaign-financing disclosures. The two Presidents maintain a public candidate list that includes the nominating State or States and those documents.
Each item answers a different reading question. The nomination identifies the supporting State or States; the vision statement presents the candidate's proposed direction; the CV supplies the professional account submitted with the nomination; and the financing disclosure addresses campaign funding. Comparing the same categories across entries is a more orderly approach than treating every published document as interchangeable. The list brings these materials together in one public reference.
Interactive dialogues
The Assembly President convenes webcast interactive dialogues with all candidates. The official process also calls for close engagement with Member States in a transparent and inclusive manner. The dialogues sit alongside the written nomination materials, adding a public discussion format to the record.
For readers following the process, the written and spoken material offer complementary ways to examine a candidature. A vision statement can be read alongside the discussion to identify which priorities are being explained. This is a way of organising the available information, without drawing conclusions about a candidate's prospects or treating a dialogue as an announcement of the outcome.
From the 80th Assembly presidency to the 81st
Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th session, conducted the process until that session ended on 8 September 2026. In a letter dated 4 September 2026, A/80/823, she shared observations on the selection process and handed it to her successor, Khalilur Rahman, President of the 81st session.
Rahman of Bangladesh was elected on 2 June 2026 under Rule 30 of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure. The established regional rotation placed the 81st-session presidency with the Asia-Pacific Group. The June election and September handover describe the Assembly presidency's succession; they should be read separately from the documents concerning the Secretary-General selection itself.
UN80 and the wider reform debate
The UN80 Initiative provides context for discussion of the institution's direction. It seeks a simpler, more effective and coherent UN system amid constrained resources and rising needs. One Action Plan brings together three workstreams, 31 work packages and 86 actions.
Its work covers Secretariat efficiency, stronger mandate creation and review, and better alignment of programmes and structures. Examples include administrative consolidation, relocations to lower-cost duty stations, less reporting and more transparent mandates. Member States lead the reform process and guide its priorities and outcomes. These are concrete subjects to keep in view when reading statements about the UN's future, while assessing each proposal on its own terms.
Official sources
The UN's selection and appointment overview is the starting point for the rules of this cycle, the joint letter, nomination materials and presidency handover. The Assembly's record of the 81st-session presidential election supplies the separate election date, regional group and procedural reference. UN80's own overview explains the reform framework.
For a document-based reading, three questions help: which text sets out the process, which letter begins the cycle, and which materials describe a candidature? Resolution 79/327, the joint letter and the public list answer those questions respectively. A careful account should identify the document behind each statement and keep its publication date attached to it. This approach allows the selection to be followed as a sequence of institutional steps without speculating about the eventual appointment.