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
Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly by a vote of 122 and 13, respectively to replace Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh who resigned from the Court in 2011. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked outgoing President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser for his leadership of the session. Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly The Sixty-sixth Session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2011 at 15:00 and was presided over by former Qatari permanent representative to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. The session ended on 18 September as al-Nasser symbolically passed the gavel to the president of the next session, Vuk Jeremic. On 23 June 2011, Qatar's