1981 United Nations Secretary-General selection straw polls, an innovation that became the standard method for selecting a Secretary-General in future open selections. Waldheim's defeat also confirmed the informal two-term limit on the office of Secretary-General, and Pérez's selection firmly established the principle of regional rotation. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. Therefore, candidates for the office can be vetoed by any of the permanent members. In 1981, Kurt Waldheim of Austria was finishing up his second term as Secretary-General, despite Chinese preferences for a Secretary-General from the Third World. In the 1971
First session of the United Nations General Assembly of the first session opened in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, New York, on 23 October 1946. First session of the United Nations General Assembly The first session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 10 January 1946 at the Methodist Central Hall in London. Gladwyn Jebb, executive secretary of the UN, notified Dr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel, head of the Colombian delegation to the UN and chairman of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, called the meeting to order. Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium was elected the first president of the General Assembly in a 28–23 vote, prevailing over Trygve Lie