American Amy Pope had 98 votes The Portuguese Antonio Vittorino 67 In the first round Election of a new Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (H.I.M), in Geneva this morning.
Elected in 2018, Vitorino is running for a second term.
In an unprecedented and unpredictable move, this year’s race has two candidates from “home”, the West and two allies and allies, Portugal and the United States, which was campaigned with tweezers by Portuguese diplomacy and government.
Pope, the IOM deputy director-general in charge of management and reforms – de facto Vittorino’s number two – was surprised to announce his candidacy in October.
The winner must secure two-thirds of the vote and the election can have four rounds. In recent weeks, there has been strong pressure from both candidates, and as of this morning, Several rounds were expected One of the candidates will get the required two-thirds majority.
But it is not certain whether Vitorino will advance to the second round by a margin of 31 votes or declare defeat and drop out. It will be discussed and decided in Geneva. Even if Vittorino decides to leave now, a second round of elections would have to be held because the pope needs a two-thirds majority to be elected.
IOM Election Day is here! Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this extraordinary journey over the past 7 months. Hearing perspectives from around the world has been a profound learning experience. It’s time we come together to deliver on our migration promise. #AmyPope4DG pic.twitter.com/QbbUybkclp
— Amy Pope (@AmyEPope) May 15, 2023
The IOM has 175 members and voting is secret.
The Pope has been on unpaid leave from IOM since March to focus on the campaign. He is the official candidate of the US government and has the personal support of President Joe Biden. Your Twitter account has many pictures of you with Biden and Anthony Blinken. US Secretary of State and various countries.
In his campaign, Pope criticized Vitorino’s ideas and style, and even suggested that he was too old for the job. Vitorino is 66 years old and Pope 49. I said necessary “More innovation“ This is “More energy“.
The Portuguese government ran a very sensible campaign. He avoided hurting an ally with America’s weight, he didn’t criticize the pope personally, and he didn’t comment on what other countries’ diplomats described.“Unfaithfulness”.
In statements to PÚBLICO ahead of the election, Minister João Gomes Cravinho claimed Vitorino’s first term “speaks for itself”.
Portuguese diplomacy highlighted the six results of Vitorino’s mandate: it implemented reforms in the structure of top management, increased geographic and gender diversity, established evaluation and accountability mechanisms, improved the effectiveness of IOM’s humanitarian operations in response to various crises, including Yemen, Afghanistan. and Ukraine, and increased IOM’s annual budget from $2 billion to $3 billion.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”