Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, has topped a post-event poll conducted after the United Nations’ public town hall for candidates vying to become the organisation’s next secretary-general.

The virtual town hall, hosted by the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly in collaboration with Bloomberg, allowed member states, UN observers, civil society organisations and UN staff to hear directly from the six officially nominated candidates and assess their visions for the future of the global body.

Competing alongside Rodrigues-Birkett were former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan; former President of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa; and former Senegalese President Macky Sall.