UN says next meeting with candidates for UN chief on June 7

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. General Assembly's president says he is scheduling another round of question-and-answer sessions with candidates to succeed Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general on June 7.

Mogens Lykketoft told reporters Tuesday he expects at least two new candidates to be nominated soon, and urged all others interested to have their names put forward before next month's meeting with the assembly's 193 member states. Nine candidates were interviewed last month.

He refused to name the expected new candidates but diplomats have named three other likely contenders — Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, Argentine Foreign Minister Susanna Malcorra, and Alicia Barcena, a Mexican who heads the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America.

Under the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general is chosen by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.