U.N. votes fail to end impasse

Press, 19 November 1981, Page 9

U.N. votes fail to end impasse

NZPA New York Election of a United Nations Secretary-General remained in stalemate yesterday by Chinese and American vetoes in eight Security Council ballots. The incumbent, Kurt Waldheim, of Austria, seeking an unprecedented third term, continued to be blocked by China, which is holding out for the Third World challenger, the Tanzanian Foreign Minister. Salim Ahmed Salim. America's veto of Mr Salim also held firm as the council reached the sixteenth ballot since the election began on October 27. Mr Salim has heen a principal spokesman for the Third World voting bloc which has taken strong antiAmerican stands and angered Washington. Yesterday’s results brought no dramatic shift in the voting pattern, although the council had suspended balloting for 13 days in a futile effort to clear the impasse.

With the election developing into a contest of wills between Washington and Peking, the American Ambassador (Mrs Jeane Kirkpatrick) observed. “What’s clear is that there is a deadlock.” No date was set for resumption of balloting. The council first will hold a series of closed-door consultations. Mr Waldheim’s current five-year term expires on December 31. Neither Mr Waldheim, who is 62, nor Mr Salim, who is 39. seems inclined to withdraw. Other Third World candidates, including at least eight Latin Americans, were reported to be reluctant to enter the race unless Mr Salim withdrew or the council formally declared a deadlock. A candidate must receive nine votes on the 15-member council, with none ot the permanent members — France, Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China — voting against.