Next week, something unprecedented is happening at the United Nations. Starting Tuesday, each candidate vying for the job of UN Secretary General will face two hours of questioning from UN member states and representatives of civil society. This will be the first opportunity for UN member states to vet the candidates. Here’s the schedule.

It’s worth emphasizing how unprecedented this is for the UN system. In its 70 years of existence, the UN has never done anything like this. Each of the previous eight UN Secretaries General were chosen behind closed doors by the permanent members of the Security Council. They would then present one candidate to the entire General Assembly—which is the entire membership of the United Nations—to ratify. In reality, it was a rubber stamp. The General Assembly never had any opportunity to vet the candidates. And neither did interested observers from the NGO community and civil society. 

But this year, things are totally different. To be sure, the final candidate still needs to be approved by the permanent five members of the Security Council (which hold a veto over any particular candidate). But this time the General Assembly gets the first crack at the candidates. One of the big ways that is happening is through these two hours of questions and answers. And, for your viewing pleasure, it will all be live streamed from the Trusteeship Council room at UN headquarters in New York. 

So what should you watch for?  

Unlike, say, the US presidential elections, there is no real “horserace” aspect to this election. Going into this first big inflection point in the election, there is no frontrunner to speak of. There are some better known candidates and less well known candidates. But it’s impossible to divine who is the most likely candidate to emerge at Secretary General because ultimately each candidate must pass muster with the veto-wielding members of the Security Council. So far, no UNSC member has said anything critical about any of the candidates. 

During the hearings next week, expect the answers from the candidates to dance the delicate line between appealing to the broadest number of UN member states while not crossing any member of the P-5. So, if a hot button issue like Russia’s annexation of Crimea comes up, expect the candidates to be as diplomatic as possible in their answer—they can’t afford to offend the US nor Russia. On the flipside, if questions about the Global Goals are raised —which are not controversial —  you can expect the candidates to speak more freely about the kind of unique approach the candidate will take to implement the goals. 

Either way, for this UN watcher, this will be exciting theater. 

Tune in Tuesday! 

You can shape the questions being asked of the candidates for UNSG. CLICK HERE to vote on what questions each candidate must answer. 

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of each of the partners of Global Citizen.