Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy: "WTO Director-General Election Runoff, Nigeria Has More Votes" (Comprehensive)

Nigeria Seems to Have Received Over 100 Votes... Difficult to Overturn Vote Gap
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President Moon and Prime Minister Chung's Full Support... Defeat Just Before Comeback

In the final runoff of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General election, Korea's Yoo Myung-hee, Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (left), competes against Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs. (Image source=AFP Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 29th, Yoo Myung-hee, the head of the Trade Negotiations Department and the first Korean woman to challenge for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), received fewer votes than Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in the runoff election.

Over 100 out of 163 countries appear to have supported Nigeria

Countries in green are WTO members. (Photo by World Trade Organization website)

According to the Ministry, the WTO notified the Korean and Nigerian ambassadors in Geneva at 11 a.m. local time (7 p.m. Korean time) of the preference survey results for the two candidates.

According to major foreign media reports, the WTO proposed selecting Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General to lead the WTO.

In a press release at 12:05 a.m. that day, the Ministry stated, "At a WTO ambassador-level meeting convened in Geneva at 3 p.m. local time (11 p.m. Korean time), David Walker, Chair of the WTO General Council, announced that Okonjo-Iweala received more votes in the runoff round."

Not required to resign immediately by regulations... WTO likely to recommend Nigeria

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The government plans to decide on a response after consulting with supporting countries including the United States, as the procedure to reach consensus among all member countries remains.

At a meeting convened at 3 p.m. local time (11 p.m. Korean time) with all WTO members, the WTO disclosed the survey results and proposed electing Okonjo-Iweala as Director-General.

According to the Ministry, the WTO's proposal proceeds by all member countries agreeing and then endorsing the candidate as the next Director-General.

A Ministry official said, "David Walker, Chair of the WTO General Council, plans to recommend the agreed candidate as the next WTO Director-General at a special General Council meeting on the 9th of next month after achieving consensus among all member countries for the final selection."

For Director Yoo, she must choose between withdrawing her candidacy as proposed by the WTO or attempting a comeback in the final member consultations.

According to WTO regulations, receiving lower support in the preference survey does not require immediate withdrawal from the race.

Yoo Myung-hee likely to withdraw candidacy

Yoo Myung-hee, Chief Negotiator for Trade, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Image source=Yonhap News)

With Okonjo-Iweala reportedly receiving support from 104 out of 163 countries, the significant vote gap increases the likelihood of Director Yoo withdrawing her candidacy.

Due to consultations with the United States and others, the government is reportedly deliberating on whether Director Yoo will withdraw.

According to the U.S. political media outlet Politico, the U.S. State Department sent a cable on the 25th instructing some overseas missions to ascertain whether host governments support Director Yoo. Diplomats interpreted this as a signal of U.S. support for Director Yoo.

However, since Director Yoo barely secured votes from 40 European countries and 44 African countries from Okonjo-Iweala, the consensus is that even if she participates until the end, the possibility of securing a majority is limited.

Missing EU votes was the decisive blow... comeback thwarted

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Since Director Yoo announced her candidacy in June, the prevailing assessment was that it would be a "difficult election." Passing the first round, which narrows from 8 to 5 candidates, was uncertain, and passing the second round, which narrows from 5 to 2, was considered nearly impossible.

Early reports indicated that Japan would not support Director Yoo, and China was expected to back the African candidate.

Director Yoo began the election without even securing votes from the seven East Asian countries considered her stronghold.

She needed to balance Okonjo-Iweala's African votes by securing votes from Japan, friendly Southeast Asian countries, and other parts of Asia, perform strongly in Europe, and attract votes from developing countries in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, South America, and Oceania, but the campaign faltered from the start.

In fact, the European Union's support for Okonjo-Iweala in the preference survey was the decisive factor.

Director Yoo visited Geneva four times despite the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted support lobbying activities in Brussels, Belgium, where the EU headquarters is located, and London, UK, until the very end, reflecting the judgment that the EU was the battleground.

President Moon and Prime Minister Chung's full support... "Government did all it could"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and related departments provided full support during Director Yoo's election process. There is widespread evaluation that the Korean government "did everything it could."

President Moon requested support for Director Yoo from 13 countries including New Zealand, Australia, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Malaysia, Italy, Denmark, India, Kazakhstan, and Chile. Prime Minister Chung also appealed for support from 27 countries including Colombia, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, and Croatia.

This strategy of "targeted support fire" for key regions such as the New Northern and New Southern policies, Asia, and Latin America, covering both developed and developing countries, is generally regarded as the right approach.

Some argue that the preference survey disadvantage for Director Yoo reflects the limits of Korean diplomacy, based on the election practice that political judgments by governments have more influence on votes than individual candidate qualities in higher rounds.

This is because even with a relatively rational strategy of "gaining votes evenly from around the world" in a disadvantageous election, the possibility of failure to win has increased.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.