United Nations Secretary-General selection of the race, but Kurt Waldheim of Austria won the most votes in the first round. Carlos Ortiz de Rozas of Argentina also passed the 9-vote threshold in the second round. However, China vetoed Waldheim, and the Soviet Union vetoed Jakobson and Ortiz. Prior to the third round, the U.S. and UK delegations received instructions to prevent Waldheim from being selected, but they decided to abstain and rely on the Chinese veto. To their surprise, China switched its veto to an abstention. Kurt Waldheim received no vetoes and was selected Secretary-General for a term starting on 1 January 1972. Kurt
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