Helen Clark has ranked seventh in the third straw poll (Photo / NZ Herald)

Clark should stay in the race: Key

Author: NZN,
Publish Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2016, 3:09PM

Former prime minister Helen Clark's "struggle continues" as her position remains unchanged in her bid to become the next United Nations Secretary-General.

She placed seventh in the latest straw poll in New York on Monday (US time), receiving six encourage votes from the 15-member United Nations Security Council.

"Many thanks to UN Security Council members for continued support for #Helen4SG. La lucha continua. #NextSG #She4SG," she tweeted.
The Spanish phrase translates as "the struggle continues".

Prime Minister John Key agrees she should stay in the race.

"The votes are shifting around, at this point she should stay in," he told reporters.

"She's still got a lot of work to do to get over the line - she's not unrealistic."

Mr Key has been in contact with Miss Clark since the latest straw poll.

"There certainly wasn't any indication she's going to pull out."

Miss Clark also shared a tweet describing the five female candidates, who make up half the field, as "truly spectacular".

The results, which are not publicly announced by the United Nations, were leaked to the media within minutes of the vote and quickly distributed on social media.

They show Miss Clark received discourage votes from eight nations, as a well as one no opinion vote.

The position is the same result she achieved in the second poll, but one place below that of the first poll.

Only 10 candidates remain in the race after Croatia and Montenegro's hopeful's withdrew earlier in August.

Former Portugese prime minister Antonio Guterres remains favourite to replace Ban Ki-Moon later this year, with Slovakian foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak moving up to second.

Mr Key is continuing to back Miss Clark, who he says could be a compromise candidate if the permanent five countries - the United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia - can't settle on one.

He revealed on Monday that he would make a further appeal to US President Barack Obama at the East Asia Summit in Laos next week if Miss Clark were to survive the poll.