1996 United Nations Secretary-General selection a term beginning 1 January 1997. The 1996 selection marks the only time that a sitting Secretary-General was denied a second term. The elderly Boutros-Ghali initially intended to serve only one term, but he ran for a second term in 1996. Traditionally, the Secretary-General is entitled to run unopposed for a second term. No sitting Secretary-General had ever been denied a second term by a veto. In the 1950 selection, Trygve Lie was vetoed by the Soviet Union, but he was re-appointed by the General Assembly without a recommendation from the Security Council. In the 1976 selection, Kurt Waldheim received
1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection Slim to carry out the duties of Secretary-General, while he would delegate his own duties to one of the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly. However, Slim insisted that the General Assembly would not act until the candidates had first been submitted to the Security Council. Nathan Barnes of Liberia, as President of the Security Council, attempted to arrange for Great Power consultations on the topic. However, the Soviet Union refused to attend any meeting that included Ambassador Tsiang Tingfu of Nationalist China, on the grounds that the Chinese seat at the United Nations actually belonged to Communist China. After the