Alberto Rubio (Samarkand)
Zurab Pololikashvili will be able to run for a new mandate at the head of the World Tourism Organization in 2025, as endorsed late Thursday night by the XXV General Assembly of this organization, which closed yesterday in Samarkand.
The vote resulted in a comfortable support for the Chilean proposal, with a result of 71 votes in favor and 26 against. A result that reinforces the position of Pololikashvili, who had been somewhat disavowed after the failed attempt of reelection proposed by Uzbekistan and that was dynamited by the Spanish delegation arguing that the statutes of the UNWTO did not allow to opt for a third term.
However, UNWTO legal sources confirmed to The Diplomat that this provision to limit re-election to two terms, added by Spain at the Assembly held in Dakar in 2005, is not in force and, therefore, there are still no limits to the continuity of the secretary general.
What was clear is that the General Assembly was divided yesterday into two blocks. On the one hand, those who support the current Secretary General -a majority of Asian, African and Latin American countries– and, on the other hand, the European bloc led by Spain, which currently also holds the six-month presidency of the European Union.
