Clark not out yet in UN race

Helen Clark is down but not out in the race to head the United Nations.

Clark placed seventh in the latest straw poll of UN Security Council members early yesterday morning – six votes in favour, eight discourage votes and one ‘‘no opinion’’.

Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres is still the front-runner.

Clark has consistently polled middle of the pack, despite high expectations surrounding her candidacy.

But she now appears set to wait it out till the big powers pull out their veto powers - and see who is left standing.

After the vote Clark tweeted her supporters the words ‘‘La lucha continua’’, or the struggle continues.

If the vote was by popular choice, Clark would have been a front-runner.

Her bid for the top job has had a huge head of steam on social media and elsewhere, thanks to her high visibility on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat.

Clark has been the flag-bearer for the push to appoint a woman secretary-general for the first time in the UN’s 70-year history. And she is also seen as representative of the mood among the wider UN membership to decide the next secretary-general on competency.

But Clark is caught in the middle of a battle for influence and geopolitical horse trading between the United States and Russia, two of the most powerful members of the so-called P5 club – the five permanent members of the 15-member security council.

Clark received a much higher number of votes ‘‘discouraging’’ her candidacy in the early rounds of voting, suggesting at least one of the permanent members voted against her. That increases the likelihood she is facing a veto down the line.

Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully have been on a worldwide charm offensive in support of Clark but have so far failed to make the difference. Even a personal approach by Key to US President Barack Obama appears to have been rebuffed, with the US widely believed to be backing the Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra.

But Malcorra, seen as the establishment candidate after previously serving as UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-Moon’s offsider, might struggle to survive a veto round.

The Russians, meanwhile, have made no bones about their preference for an Eastern European candidate, says Key.

But like Malcorra, any favoured candidate of Russia faces a veto by the US.

Clark had always hoped to emerge as the compromise candidate once the dust had settled on the vetoes, but Guterres appears poised to take that title instead.

Prime Minister John Key said yesterday that he was ‘‘not disheartened’’ by Clark’s result.

He backed her to remain in the race, should she want to.

‘‘Things have stabilised for Helen Clark, she’ll be pleased about that and they certainly haven’t gotten any worse. On the other side of the coin they haven’t gotten better, so it shows you she’s got plenty of work still to do.’’ OPINION: ‘‘Steady and respectable’’ is the inside word on Helen Clark’s showing in the latest round of diplomatic arm-wrestling over the top job at the United Nations.

That makes it unlikely Clark will pull out before the next vote, even if the odds seem heavily stacked against her.

Clark emerged seventh among the 10 contenders to replace Ban Ki-Moon as UN secretary general,