# 1976 United Nations Secretary-General selection
The 1976 United Nations Secretary-General selection was the Security Council and General Assembly process that renewed Kurt Waldheim of Austria for a second term as Secretary-General at the end of his first five-year term. China had vetoed Waldheim in 1971 and again in 1976 before ultimately abstaining, allowing the Security Council to recommend him unanimously on 7 December 1976 and the General Assembly to appoint him the following day.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese vetoes | China vetoed Waldheim in 1971 and in 1976 before ultimately abstaining in later ballots[1](https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Process-for-Selecting-the-Secretary-General-of-the-United-Nations-October-2025.pdf) |
| Council decision | At its 1978th meeting, held in private on 7 December 1976, the Council unanimously decided to recommend Waldheim to the Assembly[2](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/sites/default/files/repertoire_8th_supplement.pdf) |
| Recorded vote | Recommendation adopted 15-0-0 at meeting S/PV.1978 (closed), 7 December 1976[3](https://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick/meetings/1976) |
| Council resolution | S/RES/400 (1976), on the appointment of the new Secretary-General[4](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/resolutions-adopted-security-council-1976) |
| Assembly action | Appointment adopted at the 93rd plenary meeting of the 31st session of the General Assembly, 8 December 1976 (A/31/PV.93)[5](https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/selection-and-appointment-of-kurt-waldheim) |
| Legal threshold | Article 27(3) of the UN Charter requires an affirmative vote of nine Council members including the concurring votes of the permanent members[6](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7544/CBP-7544.pdf) |
## Rules of the process
The Secretary-General is not elected by the UN membership at large. Under the Charter, the Security Council recommends a candidate and the General Assembly appoints that candidate. Because the recommendation is a matter of substance, it requires an affirmative vote of nine members of the Council including the concurring votes of its five permanent members, so any single permanent member can block a candidate with a veto[6](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7544/CBP-7544.pdf).
**Informal practice.** In the early years of the United Nations, discussion of candidates took place informally among Council members, primarily among the Permanent Five, who frequently proposed candidates themselves[1](https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Process-for-Selecting-the-Secretary-General-of-the-United-Nations-October-2025.pdf). The informal practice later evolved into the straw poll system used in every subsequent selection: successive rounds of secret, informal ballots in which Council members indicate "encourage," "discourage," or "no opinion" on each candidate[7](https://cic.nyu.edu/resources/selecting-the-next-united-nations-secretary-general-power-legitimacy-and-the-design-of-the-un-highest-office/). The formal vote on the recommendation is one of the rare times when formal ballots in the Council are cast in secret[8](https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/appointing_unsg_2016.pdf).
## The 1976 vote
China's opposition carried over from Waldheim's original appointment: it had vetoed him in 1971 and did so again in 1976, before ultimately abstaining and allowing his appointment to proceed[1](https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Process-for-Selecting-the-Secretary-General-of-the-United-Nations-October-2025.pdf). On 7 December 1976 the Council met in private as meeting S/PV.1978 to consider the recommendation, and the recorded outcome was 15 votes in favor, none against, and none abstaining[3](https://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick/meetings/1976). The Council's own account records that at its 1978th meeting, held in private on 7 December 1976, it unanimously decided to recommend to the Assembly that the Secretary-General be appointed[2](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/sites/default/files/repertoire_8th_supplement.pdf). The recommendation was formalized in Security Council resolution S/RES/400 (1976), titled "Appointment of the new Secretary-General"[4](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/resolutions-adopted-security-council-1976).
The General Assembly acted the next day. Resolution appointing the Secretary-General was adopted at the 93rd plenary meeting of the Assembly's 31st session on 8 December 1976[5](https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/selection-and-appointment-of-kurt-waldheim). Prior to 2015, this adoption was effectively the Assembly's only role in the selection; it did not otherwise participate in choosing among candidates[1](https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Process-for-Selecting-the-Secretary-General-of-the-United-Nations-October-2025.pdf).
## Place in the selection's history
The 1976 selection is one of the recorded instances of a permanent member using its veto against a candidate for the office. The veto power over the recommendation later produced a more consequential precedent: in 1996 the United States vetoed the recommendation to appoint Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to a second term, making it the first permanent-member veto of a sitting Secretary-General seeking reappointment, despite his broad support among the wider membership[7](https://cic.nyu.edu/resources/selecting-the-next-united-nations-secretary-general-power-legitimacy-and-the-design-of-the-un-highest-office/).
A candidate for the office must clear two distinct thresholds at once: no opposition from any of the five permanent members, and enough support from the ten elected members to reach the nine-vote majority[7](https://cic.nyu.edu/resources/selecting-the-next-united-nations-secretary-general-power-legitimacy-and-the-design-of-the-un-highest-office/). Commentators describing the process have noted that a choice acceptable to all five permanent members tends to be one none of them wants to block, a dynamic critics have called a lowest-common-denominator outcome[9](https://time.com/4524860/antonio-guterres-secretary-general-flawed-process/).
## References
1. [The Process for Selecting the Secretary-General of the United Nations (October 2025), Center on International Cooperation, NYU](https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Process-for-Selecting-the-Secretary-General-of-the-United-Nations-October-2025.pdf)
2. [Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council, 8th Supplement, Part I: Relations with the General Assembly](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/sites/default/files/repertoire_8th_supplement.pdf)
3. [UN Security Council Meetings & Outcomes Tables: 1976 (S/RES/385-402), Dag Hammarskjöld Library](https://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick/meetings/1976)
4. [Resolutions adopted by the Security Council in 1976](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/resolutions-adopted-security-council-1976)
5. [Selection and Appointment of Kurt Waldheim, UN Secretary-General office](https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/selection-and-appointment-of-kurt-waldheim)
6. [Selecting a new UN Secretary General, House of Commons Library briefing CBP-7544](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7544/CBP-7544.pdf)
7. [Selecting the Next United Nations Secretary-General, Center on International Cooperation, NYU](https://cic.nyu.edu/resources/selecting-the-next-united-nations-secretary-general-power-legitimacy-and-the-design-of-the-un-highest-office/)
8. [Appointing the UN Secretary-General (June 2016), Security Council Report](https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/appointing_unsg_2016.pdf)
9. [António Guterres Is the Right Choice for U.N. Secretary General. But the Process Is Flawed., TIME](https://time.com/4524860/antonio-guterres-secretary-general-flawed-process/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Law and justice › International law › United Nations instruments › Security Council resolutions › Veto practice › Vetoes by permanent member*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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