United Nations, Apr 12 (Prensa Latina) The presidency of the UN General Assembly said that everything is ready for the public meetings scheduled as of today with the eight candidates to occupy the post of UN Secretary General.
In remarks to journalists accredited here, the spokesman for the presidency of the Assembly, Dan Thomas, said that the UN member countries and the civil society will have the chance to exchange views with the hopefuls and ask them what their stances are on different issues.

According to Thomas, the candidates will make a 10-minute presentation and then answer questions.

More than 1,000 questions by the civil society were received from 70 nations, he revealed.

The spokesman described as unprecedented the ongoing process to elect the replacement for current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is scheduled to conclude his five-year term in December.

The intention is to guarantee as much transparency as possible, he said.

The process of election of the UN Secretary General has been strongly criticized by most member states due to the traditional almost exclusive role played in it by the Security Council, and particularly the five permanent members with veto power (the United States, Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom).

The question/answer session today will have the candidates Igor Luksic (Montenegro), Irina Bokova (Bulgaria) and Antonio Guterres (Portugal).

Danilo Turk (Slovenia), Vesna Pusic (Croacia) and Natalia Gherman (Moldavia) will speak Wednesday, and Helen Clark and Srgjan Kerim (Macedonia) will do it on Thursday.

These are the eight candidates confirmed so far, in case there were others, they would have the same opportunity to interact, said Thomas, who told Prensa Latina that seven candidates have presented already their views about the exercise of the position of Secretary General. Only Clark is left.

In general, the hopefuls agree on the importance to respect the principles of the Un Charter and human rights, to work for peace, cooperation and inclusive, sustainable development.