Alberto Rubio
The President of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Chilean Undersecretary of Tourism, José Luis Uriarte Campos, sent a letter to UNWTO Member States on Wednesday in which he affirms that “all the acts carried out have been in accordance with the Statutes and the legality in force”, therefore reiterates the Council’s recommendation to re-elect Zurab Pololikashvili for a new term.
With this letter, to which The Diplomat has had access, Uriarte, who is not a UNWTO official, addresses “the recent questioning of the election of the Secretary General carried out at the last meeting of the Executive Council” of the UNWTO, and underlines his intention to clarify a series of doubts, such as those raised by the recent letter from the Costa Rican Minister of Tourism.
In his letter, the Costa Rican minister requests that the vote to ratify the appointment of Pololikashvili as secretary general be held by secret ballot. Costa Rica relies on article 43 of the General Assembly’s rules, which states this, but with its request it breaks a custom that has always been respected: that the Council’s appointment (by secret ballot) need only be ratified (by a show of hands) by the Assembly.
Firstly, Uriarte claims that “the timetable for the nomination of candidates for the post of secretary general” was a decision taken “by the Executive Council, and not by the Secretariat”. He adds that it was the 112th Executive Council “which fixed the date and place of the 113th session, as well as the timetable and procedure for the election of the Secretary General for the period 2022-2025”.
To clear up any doubts, the President of the Council recalls one by one the countries that participated in that meeting and assures that throughout this process “it has been the Executive Council that has given the instructions and guidelines on the process of electing the Secretary General”, of whom he affirms that “it has certainly complied with the current legality, the role of the Secretariat being merely operational with respect to what was requested by the Executive Council”.
Regarding the election between the candidates presented by the governments of Bahrain and Georgia, Uiarte clarifies that “it complied in all points with the Statutes”, as well as with the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Council and with the General Rules for Elections by Secret Ballot of the UNWTO”. The Council President recalls that the vote was already secret, that 33 of the 34 members of the Council participated and that the result was 25 votes in favour of Pololikashvili to 8 votes for Shaikha Al Khalifa.
