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
Seventy-first session of the United Nations General Assembly Seventy-first session of the United Nations General Assembly The Seventy-first Session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2016. The President of the United Nations General Assembly is from the Asia-Pacific Group. Fijian Ambassador Peter Thomson was chosen over Cypriot Andreas Mavroyiannis to preside over the assembly in a year that includes the election of a new secretary-general of the United Nations. Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola that the country sought a platform to achieve sustainable development that would be called the Triennial UN Conferences on Oceans and Seas. As is tradition during each session of