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| United Nations candidates compete for secretary general job in debate – live | United Nations candidates compete for secretary general job in debate – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 7.17pm BST | |
| 19:17 | |
| All of tonight’s questions come from the public, explains Samarasinghe, who says that her organisation has been inundated. | |
| Feel free to pitch in on Twitter with your questions though. It’s not too late. | |
| 7.15pm BST | |
| 19:15 | |
| We’re getting an introduction first from Natalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director of UNA-UK and co-founder of 1 for 7 Billion. | |
| She says that public trust in financial institutions and political leadership is at a low ebb. | |
| All of this has weakened international institutions like the UN. For the first time in the UN’s history we have a public list of those going for the job of secretary general. | |
| What’s needed, more than ever, is a visionary figure. | |
| No pressure then. | |
| Updated | |
| at 7.16pm BST | |
| 7.10pm BST | |
| 19:10 | |
| If you’re following and contributing on Twitter, the hashtag for this even is #SGdebate. Enjoy. | |
| 7.02pm BST | |
| 19:02 | |
| Here’s a guide we published in March to some of the possible candidates. Not all of them are here tonight alas, but I think we’re in far a good flavour of the type of debate which is going on. | |
| Related: Who will succeed Ban Ki-moon? A guide to the possible candidates | |
| Updated | |
| at 7.08pm BST | |
| 7.00pm BST | |
| 19:00 | |
| We’re just waiting for the candidates to arrive on stage. Here’s a the view for now: | |
| Mins away, a little bit of history: Hustings for the next UN Sec GenLive from the Barbican https://t.co/SwqikqeRWz pic.twitter.com/88kCJ6fojQ | |
| 6.51pm BST | |
| 18:51 | |
| Vuk Jeremic, 40, former foreign minister of Serbia: Served as president of United Nations General Assembly between September 2012 and September 2013, Jeremic is a Harvard and Cambridge graduate who cut his first political teeth in pro-democracy activities while a student. As Serbia’s foreign minister, he was at the forefront of the state’s nascent pursuit of membership of the European Union, while also handling Serbia’s approach to what was then the breakaway province of Kosovo. | |
| Antonio Guterres, 67, the former prime minister of Portugal: Led his country’s government from 1995 to 2002, he then served as UN high commissioner for refugees for a decade from 2005 to 2015. His time in that role corresponded with the beginning of the greatest refugee crisis since the second world war, when he called on the European Union to adopt a mass relocation programme that would be binding on EU states. He studied physics and electrical engineering and worked in academia before embarking on a political career in the 1970s. | |
| Igor Lukšić, 39, Montenegro’s former prime minister: Another representative of the former Yugoslavia, Lukšić has been a minister in Montenegro’s parliament since 2001 and in 2010 became prime minister, following stints overseeing finance and press relations. He is a strong advocate for the EU (and Montenegro’s entry into it), and supported privatisation of banks and anti-corruption measures as finance minister. He has also authored three volumes of poetry and prose. | |
| Updated | |
| at 6.51pm BST | |
| 6.38pm BST | 6.38pm BST |
| 18:38 | 18:38 |
| Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest public debate in the election for the next head of the United Nations – the “most impossible job on this earth”, in the words of one secretary general to his successor. | Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest public debate in the election for the next head of the United Nations – the “most impossible job on this earth”, in the words of one secretary general to his successor. |
| We’re at the Barbican centre in London, where three of the field of candidates who would succeed Ban Ki-moon will face questions about war, pandemics, refugees, climate change and forging agreements between 193 nations that disagree on all those problems and more. | We’re at the Barbican centre in London, where three of the field of candidates who would succeed Ban Ki-moon will face questions about war, pandemics, refugees, climate change and forging agreements between 193 nations that disagree on all those problems and more. |
| It’s a small piece of history in the making. Secretary generals are usually chosen behind closed doors, like a pope or a Nobel prize winner. This year however, a popular movement has emerged calling for more openness so the public can vet who the powerful select. This debate is the culmination of that process. | It’s a small piece of history in the making. Secretary generals are usually chosen behind closed doors, like a pope or a Nobel prize winner. This year however, a popular movement has emerged calling for more openness so the public can vet who the powerful select. This debate is the culmination of that process. |
| The three candidates debating in front of a live audience here at the Barbican are António Guterres, Vuk Jeremić and Igor Lukšić. | The three candidates debating in front of a live audience here at the Barbican are António Guterres, Vuk Jeremić and Igor Lukšić. |
| I’m Ben Quinn, and I’ll be live blogging the debate, which is being moderated by my colleague Mark Rice-Oxley. | I’m Ben Quinn, and I’ll be live blogging the debate, which is being moderated by my colleague Mark Rice-Oxley. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 6.44pm BST | at 6.44pm BST |