Former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock elected president of UN General Assembly
Former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly on 2 June. Russia did not support her candidacy.
Source: European Pravda; Spiegel, German weekly news magazine
Details: A total of 167 countries voted for the former German foreign minister in a secret ballot.
Baerbock was the only candidate for the post. Despite this, the vote was held in secret at the insistence of one UN member. Diplomatic sources say the secret ballot was initiated by Russia.
Moscow made no secret of its displeasure at Baerbock's nomination, accusing her of "outright bias".
As a foreign minister, Baerbock was consistently critical of Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and advocated a tougher policy towards the Kremlin, which repeatedly met with outrage from the Russian authorities.
Background:
- Baerbock's nomination after her party's defeat in the German parliamentary elections drew some criticism in diplomatic circles.
- In her post-election speech, Baerbock thanked UN members for their confidence in her and promised to be an "honest broker" for all UN member states.
- Earlier, Baerbock had resigned from the leadership of the Green parliamentary faction for personal reasons.
- It was later reported that she would be nominated for the rotating post of president of the UN General Assembly.
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