On 21 October 2026 the United Arab Emirates formally nominated Lana Nusseibeh, who was not among the seven candidates on 20 September, and the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council circulated the nomination the same day in a joint letter on un.org; The Guardian confirms the UAE nomination.
Hunch. The Guardian names possible late entrants but says none has shown any wish to run, and a late name would face members who resent it after a year of public hearings.
The new candidate market resolves YES if, between 22 September and 31 October 2026, a member state formally nominates a candidate who was not among the seven in the race on 20 September, as shown on the UN's secretary-general selection page at un.org. If that page is silent, reports by two of Reuters, the Guardian and Al Jazeera settle it; talk of a possible candidate without a nomination resolves NO.
We looked at every race for UN secretary-general since 1991 in which the Security Council had three or more straw polls. There are four. In each we asked whether the person leading after the third poll was then recommended by the Council, and how fast. The same Council, with the same five veto powers, decided all four. Only the 2016 race ran under today's open rules, with public candidates and hearings. For 1991 and 1996 our sources name the leader only in New York Times headlines, without the vote counts.