Palestinian Authority set to run UN General Assembly presidency candidate

(JNS) — The United States opposes the candidacy of the Palestinian Authority for the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly.

Riyad Mansour, the authority’s longtime “permanent observer” to the global body, is mounting a bid to helm the assembly presidency in 2026-27, despite the authority holding non-state “observer” status.

The 22-member, U.N. Arab Group, which passed the nomination onto the 55-member Asia Pacific Group, backs the nomination. The latter group holds the rotating slot for the presidency in two years, based on regional rotation, and no other candidates have emerged so far.

Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s pro-Israel, outgoing foreign minister, is the frontrunner to be elected later this year as the 193-member General Assembly president for the 2025-26 session.

Mansour’s nomination is almost certain to set up a confrontation with the Trump administration, which has already been withdrawing massive funding from U.N. agencies.

A non-state member has never held the assembly presidency, creating legal and political uncertainty. 

Last May, the General Assembly approved an unprecedented measure to give the Palestinian Authority novel rights beyond those reserved for a non-state member, including to speak on any matter before the General Assembly and to offer amendments to resolutions. 

The United States vetoed a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would have afforded the Palestinians full member state recognition, claiming that the Palestinian Authority didn’t have the required elements of statehood.

In response, the U.S. Congress considered, but didn’t pass, legislation that would have expanded existing funding prohibitions to include U.N. organizations that afford status, rights or privileges beyond observer status to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization.

The General Assembly resolution did not explicitly give the Palestinians the right to hold the presidency, but a subsequent interpretation by António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, stated that a member of the Palestinian delegation could hold the presidency.

“The United States opposes the Palestinian Authority’s candidacy for U.N. General Assembly president,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told JNS.