The six candidates vying to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations on Thursday held a town hall-style debate in which they outlined their vision for the international body should they become elected.

Current U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres will step down from his position after a decade at the head of the U.N. once his term ends on December 31, 2026.

Presently, there are six candidates competing to replace Guterres on January 1, 2027: socialist former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet; Ecuadorian former Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa; Argentine current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi; former Second Vice President of Costa Rica Rebeca Grynspan; former Foreign Minister of Guyana Carolyn Rodrigues; and former President of Senegal Macky Sall.

As part of the ongoing selection process, all six candidates appeared before the U.N. for a roughly two-hour debate that saw the secretary-general aspirants answer questions from U.N. diplomat and staff, as well as from select civil society representatives.

“This U.N. town hall will provide a rare opportunity to engage with the ideas, priorities, and leadership vision of the candidates for one of the world’s most important positions,” U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock reportedly said.

“In an increasingly fragmented world, the United Nations needs not only an exceptional chief administrator who will make the organization fit for the 21st century but also the leadership and integrity of someone willing to vigorously defend the U.N. Charter and all its three pillars,” she added.

The left-leaning Spanish newspaper El País, noting that there is no “clear favorite” to become the next U.N. chief, pointed out the “rigidity” of Thursday’s session, as candidates answered questions without any exchange of ideas between them.

Per El País, Thursday’s event “did not help” raise interest in the selection process — one that comes at a time when the U.N. finds itself in a steep financial crisis and eroded public trust.

Former President Bachelet, who traveled to China last month seeking the Chinese communist regime’s support for her U.N. bid, reportedly affirmed that she would “refuse to give in to pressure from powerful donor countries” should she become elected as secretary-general. Bachelet did not specify which “powerful donor countries” she was referring to in her remarks.

Per Argentina’s public television broadcaster, most of the candidates emphasized on Thursday the need to continue reforming the United Nations to make the international body more efficient, stressing the need for the future secretary general to be more relevant to peace efforts around the world.

Rafael Grossi — who has led the IAEA’s efforts to address Iran’s illicit nuclear program and has been threatened by Iran for his actions — argued in favor of further U.N. involvement in times of conflict and affirmed that any situation that triggers war or uses aggression “is serious enough for the secretary-general to step in.”

“What we need to do is to restore the credibility of the U.N. as a valid interlocutor, and then use the tools at hand,” Grossi reportedly said.

Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues defended the United Nations Secretary General’s “neutrality” in spite of the challenges that come with leading the U.N.

“I would draw on that neutrality and the resources at my disposal, as well as the U.N.’s presence on the ground, to gather all necessary information and make proposals to the Security Council,” Rodrigues said.

Asked where she saw the United Nations five years from now, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan answered that she “would like nobody to ask me again, ‘Where is the U.N.?’ That will be my indicator.”

“I would like to see a U.N. that is back at the table on the scenarios of conflict,” Grynspan said, calling for the international body to engender and deliver “results on the ground.”

According to El País, Grynspan affirmed that the United Nations “should’ve involved itself from the start with all sides” involved in the ongoing conflict in Iran “to try to open us, at least in benefit of the people who suffer the situation at the Strait of Hormuz.”

Former President of Senegal Sall reportedly stressed the ability of the United Nations Secretary General to “extend prosperity in the whole world.”

“This means that, first and foremost, we must reform the international financial architecture. Public funding alone is not enough to provide adequate solutions; therefore, I would seek to establish a global dialogue with member states, the Bretton Woods institutions, international financial institutions, and, above all, the private sector, civil society, and philanthropists,” Sall said per El País.

“By bringing all these actors together, we will be able to help ensure that all countries have access to the conditions necessary for shared prosperity and, in this way, achieve a safer and more prosperous world,” he continued.

On July 30, all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council — five permanent and the ten current non-permanent members — are expected to hold their first round of secret, anonymous voting on who would be the next U.N. Secretary General.

Per the United Nation’s own rules, a candidate must first obtain the recommendation of the U.N. Security Council, which involves obtaining at least nine votes from the council’s members and avoiding a veto from its five permanent members: the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, and France.

If successfully recommended, the U.N. General Assembly appoints the chosen person as the next Secretary General for a five year term, with the possibility of being reelected for a second term.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.