UN secretary-general candidate Antonio Guterres of Portugal attends the "globally televised" debate at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, July 12, 2016. The first-ever "globally televised" debate for the UN chief election was held on Tuesday among 10 of the 12 candidates. They took questions from diplomats and the public at large. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres of Portugal on Monday maintained his lead in the informal, secret UN Security Council straw poll to replace the retiring Ban Ki-moon as head of the United Nations beginning on Jan 1, 2017, diplomatic sources said.

With 11 votes for, three discouraging ballots and one "no opinion" cast, Guterres enjoyed a comfortable lead over Slovak Republic Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak who blazed up to second with tallies of 9-5-1, from a 2-6-7 ranking at the last poll on Aug. 5, the sources said.

Guterres, also former prime minister of Portugal, dropped two "encourage" ballots and gained one "discourage" vote from the previous poll.

Bulgaria's Irina Bokova, head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), tied the third position with Serbia's Vuk Jeremic, a former president of the UN General Assembly, at 7-5-3. She was in fifth place the last go-around.

In other rankings, Argentina's Susanna Malcorra, Ban's former chef d'cabinet tallied 7-7-1; a former foreign minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Srgjan Kerim, another former president of the UN General Assembly, garnered a 6-7-2 ranking; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, currently head of the UN Development Program, chalked up 6-8-1.

Former President of Slovenia, and a former UN assistant secretary-general, Danilo Turk, dropped markedly from fourth place last time out with a showing of 5-6-4 this time. Tied for last place at 2-12-1 were Moldovas's Natalia Gherman who served the last three years as foreign minister, and Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Climate Change convention in Paris.

The latest, the third straw poll this year, is actually a secret paper balloting process, but results quickly leaked out from various diplomatic sources.

It is the duty of the 15-member council to forward its recommendation for the next secretary-general to the 193-member General Assembly to vote on.

There are hopes in some quarters for a first-ever woman secretary-general as well as in others quarters for a UN chief from an Eastern Europe country. It is hoped a candidate can be chosen by November.