Nepal filed its candidacy for President of the 66th session of UN General Assembly (PGA-66) citing its long and loyal commitment to the principles of the United Nations, and its significant contribution to the UN’s mission of promoting international peace and security, universal human rights and socio-economic development. Nepal’s candidate for PGA-66 was Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for International Affairs and the Peace Process – a distinguished international civil servant and former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN.

Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the UN was the other candidate for PGA-66.

After a long and spirited campaign, and as agreed within the Asian Group at the United Nations, an election through secret ballot was held on 25 February 2011 to decide on the nominee of the Asian Group for PGA-66. As Nepal secured slightly fewer votes than Qatar, Nepal withdrew its candidacy, thus enabling the Qatari candidate to be the unanimous nominee of the Asian Group.

It should be noted that despite many constraints, Nepal ran a strong and positive campaign which led to a very close vote. Most objective diplomats in New York surmise that Nepal’s defeat in the PGA contest was the result of Qatar’s exceptional strengths rather than Nepal’s weaknesses. Indeed, it was widely acknowledged by many diplomats in New York and elsewhere that Nepal’s case was very strong in terms of merit, logic and credentials of its candidate. But Qatar had other unique advantages.
Qatar prevailed over Nepal based, among others, on its very focused and targeted advocacy invoking solidarity among the 25 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and its good relations and resourceful lobbying with a dozen or so small Pacific island countries which comprise important constituencies within the 53 member Asian Group at the United Nations.
Nepal had a disadvantage as it does not yet have formal diplomatic relations and embassies in many countries of the Pacific, Central Asia and the OIC which collectively constitute significant voting blocs at the UN.
It is believed that Nepal got overwhelming support of countries outside the Islamic and Pacific groups which voted on the basis of merit, logic and the strengths of Nepali candidate’s credentials. Nepal came tantalizingly close to winning, and got support of countries comprising the vast majority of Asia’s population, including most of the SAARC countries, a majority of ASEAN countries, all of the Northeast Asian countries, and a sprinkling of Arab and Pacific countries as well. Although Nepal also managed to get some votes from the Islamic and Pacific countries, that was not enough to muster a majority in the Asian Group.
Except for a few minor glitches, e.g. delays in filing our candidacy, timely approval of travel and budget allocation, and fielding high-level lobbying missions to various capitals, the Nepal government’s support for its PGA candidacy was quite strong and consistent.
Nepal’s PGA candidacy had exceptionally strong support from leaders of all major political parties. That support remained unchanged even when the government changed. Many countries were impressed and even awed by the tenacity of Nepal’s campaign against great odds.
The 2010-11 PGA campaign was probably the most dedicated diplomatic campaign ever mounted by Nepal in its recent history of international relations. Within their means, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal’s Permanent Mission to the UN, and Nepalese diplomatic missions worldwide spared no efforts to promote the PGA candidacy.
The Nepali PGA candidate’s long UN experience and strong credentials as a development professional, his personal contacts and friendship with political leaders and diplomats in many countries, his first hand familiarity with development programmes in many Asian countries and worldwide, and his communication skills were much appreciated by all interlocutors.
Nepal was matched against perhaps the toughest competitor of all the 53 nations of the Asian Group. In the past decade, Qatar has demonstrated its capacity to win virtually all elections it has contested at the UN. It even defeated such powerful competitors as Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea and USA in its bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Many observers, therefore, considered Nepal’s competition with Qatar as very ambitious and challenging. Yet Nepal put up a truly honourable competition with a shoe-string budget but with a great sense of purpose and national unity.
Although eventually unsuccessful, Nepal has earned much respect and goodwill in the international community by sticking to its principled stance, exhibiting its self-confidence, making an eloquent and convincing case of the merits of its candidacy, and not succumbing to a defeatist mentality. In a way, this was a great branding exercise for Nepal. The exposure, experience and networks Nepal created as a result of the campaign puts Nepal in a very good position for our future endeavours.

Both Nepal and Qatar emphasized throughout the campaign that the PGA contest would not in any way impact negatively on their friendly and mutually beneficial bilateral relationship. The campaign was run in good spirit and Qatar expressed its sincere appreciation and continuing solidarity with Nepal both before and after the elections.

Contrary to some exaggerated fears that it might be harmful for Nepal to compete with a rich and powerful country that provides jobs to many Nepali migrant workers, through this election, Nepal has actually earned greater respect and goodwill of Qatar which can be harnessed for further benefit of Nepal and Nepali migrant workers.
In sum, despite many constraints, Nepal ran an honourable campaign, with an exceptional sense of purpose and national unity of which all Nepalis can be very proud.