Jeremic finishes second in race to become new UN secretary-general

NEW YORK - Former Serbian FM Vuk Jeremic, Belgrade's candidate for the new UN secretary-general, finished second in Wednesday's sixth round of the informal secret ballot in the UN Security Council behind former Portuguese PM Antonio Guterres, who is now set to succeed South Korea's Ban Ki-moon.

According to unofficial and unconfirmed information, Jeremic received eight encourage votes - including three from veto-wielding powers - five discourage votes - including two from veto-wielding powers - and two no opinion votes.

Guterres picked up 13 encourage, zero discourage and two no opinion votes.

Slovak FM Miroslav Lajcak received seven encourage, six discourage and two no opinion votes, followed by Bulgaria's Cristalina Georgieva with five encourage, eight discourage and two no opinion votes.