His nomination by the UN Secretary-General is still provisional and awaits formal approval by UNHCR's Executive Committee.
The development comes as a surprise in a contest that initially appeared to favour other nominees, including Swedish candidate Jesper Brodin.
Salih, now a lecturer at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, has secured strong backing from Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates.
The former Iraqi leader played a pivotal role in Iraq’s post-war reconstruction and economic revival, and has held senior positions within the Kurdistan Regional Government, including as Prime Minister.
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The UNHCR, which safeguards nearly 130 million forcibly displaced people and stateless persons worldwide, is currently led by Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi, whose term ends on 31 December 2025.
Appointments to the office are made by the UN Secretary-General and confirmed by the General Assembly for five-year terms.
This year’s selection process has seen an unusually large field of thirteen candidates. Alongside Salih and Brodin, other frontrunners included Germany’s Niels Annen, Switzerland’s Christine Schraner Burgener, and Uganda’s Matthew Kwesi Crentsil, who could have become the first UNHCR chief from Africa.
Among the applicants is Szymon Hołownia, former Speaker of the lower house of the Polish parliament, who sought the position but has fallen behind in the contest.
Hołownia lags in UNHCR race amid postponed Warsaw hearing
Hołownia remains in the United States and will not be able to provide testimony in an ongoing investigation in Warsaw related to his earlier comments about a “coup attempt,” which he said were intended in a journalistic, rather than legal, sense.
His scheduled hearing on 12 December was postponed, and Polish prosecutors will coordinate a new date through the Speaker of the Sejm.
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Source: IAR/TVN24/Reuters