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UNITED NATIONS — <\/span>Four candidates vying to lead<\/a> the United Nations have spent hours being grilled about their views on issues from restoring global peace to ending escalating poverty \u2014 in what the U.N. General Assembly president called one of the toughest job interviews in the world.<\/p>\n There was no clear victor after Chile\u2019s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina\u2019s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica\u2019s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal\u2019s Macky Sall fielded questions from U.N. ambassadors this past week.<\/p>\n Plus, other candidates could wait until after the initial auditions to jump into the race to succeed U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a> on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cThis role matters,\u201d said General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who presided over the question-and-answer sessions. \u201cThe secretary-general is not only the head of the U.N. and the world\u2019s top diplomat \u2014 she or he also represents all 8 billion of us, defending the U.N. Charter and leading on peace, development, human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n All four said they would focus on those three pillars of the U.N., especially its founding role following World War II<\/a> of ensuring international peace and security and preventing conflicts \u2014 which it has not been able to do in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other global hot spots because of wide divisions. They also pledged to spur reforms to the more than 80-year-old institution<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bachelet, 74, a two-time president of Chile and former U.N. human rights chief, told the ambassadors that the U.N. must try to avoid crises and that she has the right leadership skills. <\/p>\n \u201cI stand before you to reclaim the urgent need for dialogue,\u201d she said, stressing that the U.N. must anticipate, prevent and unite. The next secretary-general also needs to be \u201cphysically present in the field\u201d to help tackle problems, she said.<\/p>\n Grossi, 65, a former Argentine diplomat who has been director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> since 2019, said that with the world so polarized, \u201cthere are enormous, huge doubts about our institution\u201d in solving global problems. <\/p>\n Unless the U.N. has effective leadership and support from all countries, it won\u2019t regain a key place at the table, he said, \u201cso we have to concentrate on that.\u201d He also said the next U.N. chief must visit global hot spots.<\/p>\n Grynspan<\/a>, 65, a former Costa Rican vice president who has been secretary-general of the U.N. trade and development agency since 2021, said she knows how to stand up for principles while under pressure. As secretary-general, she said she would \u201ccontinue to be the moral voice and the impartial voice that the secretary-general has to be.\u201d <\/p>\n The U.N. has become \u201ca risk-conservative organization,\u201d she warned. \u201cWe need to take more risks \u2014 and I am ready to fail and try again.\u201d<\/p>\n