Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO] was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021 was based on manipulation hence his bold attempt to be appointed for a third term without election was mind boggling.
Ministers attending the UNWTO General Assembly until yesterday were faced with suspicion and cautious, especially with detailed insider information received from a group of brave whistleblowers outlying the attempt by the UNWTO legal team under the direction of Secretary General Zurab Polikashvil to confuse ministers of tourism attending the General Assembly in Uzbekistan.
A vote of no confidence for the UNWTO Secretary General
At the end of the day democracy had spoken, and this attempt by the secretary general was eliminated in a vote that some say was a vote of no confidence in him.
UNWTO SG Attempt to stay in power without election for a third term.
The well-planned move by Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili together with his legal team to mislead delegates and stay in power went even further. He attempted to be re-appointed instead of re-elected without an election to his post for Secretary-General from January 1, 2026, to December 31,2029.
It was no longer a decision on the 2-term limit Spain and other countries brought to the table several years ago. Many countries relied on the two-term rule when electing Zurab in 2017.
After Zurab managed to get the Executive Council so confused about opening the doors for him for a third term, a different and many unexpected bombshell questions were presented to ministers attending the General Election in Uzbekistan.
The subject of the vote was, Do you agree with the recommendation of the 119th session of the Executive Council that Zurab Pololikashvili be appointed Secretary General of the Organization to serve from January, 2026,26 to December 2029?
Question to UNWTO Member Countries attending the General Assembly
The decision was not only designed to bypass the 2-term limit by confusing delegates but to go one step further. Zurab wanted to eliminate competition and an election altogether, so he could stay in power until the end of 2029 and possibly beyond.
This was a similar confusion as to why this secretary-general was elected to a second term in 2021. He had eliminated competition except for one candidate from Bahrain who stepped in unprepared and at the last minute.
Zurab managed this quietly in 2021 by changing rules to shorten instead of extending the time limit for other candidates to come forward and run against him. He took advantage of the COVID pandemic.
Two open letters published in 2021 as part of a World Tourism Network Advocacy campaign and signed by two previous UNWTO Secretary Generals, such as Dr. Taleb Rifai did not stop this plot for Zurab to proceed with an unfair 2021 election process.
For an illegal third term the SG wanted to eliminate elections altogether
Zurab had it all planned for Uzbekistan. He brought in two private planes with friends and government workers onboard to lobby for his unprecedented attempt to become the first dictator in the United Nations system.
His administration created chaos in Uzbekistan by changing the agenda constantly resulting in one minister telling eTurboNews: The protocol is crap!!
He travelled the world to give out awards to get ministers to support him.
Yesterday Zurab Pololikashvili lost
The world has spoken when 65 countries voted yes, 38 no, 7 abstentions and one invalid vote did not give Zurab the necessary 2/3 vote to make this move go forward.
Presented with this question in Uzbekistan, Germany made a statement against this move.
The German delegation was contacted by Juergen Steinmetz last week. Steinmetz is the chairman of the World Tourism Network who led the advocacy campaign resulting in two open letters written by the two former UNWTO Secretary Generals Dr. Taleb Rifai and Francesco Frangialli in 2021 against the maneuvering by Pololikashvili. Even after this letter manipulations that started in the 2017 election process, continued with the former SG coming forward in this WTN advocacy campaign, and have been continuing until today.
Yesterday there is a chance the manipulations of the UNWTO structure could come to an end.
WTN Chairman Steinmetz said: “I am proud of the German delegation making a statement against this fraud yesterday, helping to prevent this plot from happening in a UN agency in charge of global travel and tourism. This is a giant step forward for democracy and will hopefully wake up those who still voted for this attempt by the secretary general to mislead the trust put in him by leading this organization.
” I also hope Pololikashvili will make the honorable move and resign from his post immediately”.
Eliminating elections altogether to stay in this post for 4 more years without any other candidate able to campaign AND eliminating the two-term restriction is something that should not be tolerated in the United Nations system.
The UNWTO plot was supported by Georgia, a country seeking entry into the European Union
It’s especially questionable by a candidate from Georgia, a country that is seeking entry into the European Community and has dealt with corruption for many years according to eturbonews report.
The UNWTO Secretary-General broke the rules and should resign.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvil broke the rules and was cheating. This vote yesterday should be seen as a vote of non-confidence.