Germany’s former defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, has been the President of the European Commission since 2019. Now, she is joined at the UN by their new General Assembly President, Annalena Baerbock, who happens to be Germany’s former foreign minister.
Russia’s UN representative, Dmitry Polyansky, who requested a secret ballot, said of Baerbock’s election, “Ms. Baerbock has repeatedly proved her incompetence, extreme bias and lack of understanding of the basic principles of diplomacy.” It should be noted that secret ballots are inherently more “democratic” than open ballots where everyone knows how you voted.
UN Assembly Elects Germany’s Ex-Foreign Minister as Next President After Russia Demands Secret Vote – U.S. News & World Report
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Excerpt:
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly elected Germany’s former foreign minister Annalena Baerbock to be the next head of the 193-member world body in a secret-ballot vote demanded by Russia.
Baerbock got 167 votes, almost double the 88 votes needed to win, while high-ranking German diplomat Helga Schmid received 7 votes as a write-in and 14 countries abstained.
Germany had nominated Schmid for the assembly presidency but replaced her with Baerbock after she lost her job as the country’s foreign affairs chief in the recent election. The decision drew some criticism in Germany.
When Baerbock appeared before the assembly to discuss her candidacy on May 15, Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky lashed into her, saying: “Ms. Baerbock has repeatedly proved her incompetence, extreme bias and lack of understanding of the basic principles of diplomacy.”
Polyansky accused her of having pursued an “anti-Russia policy,” which he said gave Russia reason to doubt that as General Assembly president she would be “able to act in the interests of peace and dialogue.”
Baerbock brushed off Russia’s request for a secret ballot.