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
1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection peacekeeping mission. On 18 September 1961, Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia to meet with rebel leader Moïse Tshombe of the State of Katanga. After circling the airfield twice, the airplane crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and all but one of the other occupants. The airplane crash set off a succession crisis at the United Nations, as Hammarskjöld's death required the Security Council to vote on a successor. The Soviet Union had been pushing to replace the Secretary-General with a troika, the three men to be named by each of the Three Worlds of the Cold War. The Soviets recommended that