At its 217th session, in March 2026, the IPU Governing Council will be called upon to elect a new Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to succeed Mr. Martin Chungong, whose final term of office ends on 30 June 2026.
At its 295th session (3 March 2025), the IPU Executive Committee set the modalities for the vacancy announcement, presentation and examination of candidatures for this post. It drew up the job description below and asked that it be made available to IPU Member Parliaments, who are invited to call for candidatures by whatever means they deem appropriate.
Candidatures can be presented by one or more Member Parliaments or by the candidates individually. The deadline for the receipt of candidatures is 1 August 2025. All applications should be addressed to the President of the IPU and sent by e-mail to sg‑[email protected] or by post in a sealed envelope to: The Registrar, Secretary General Election, IPU, 5, chemin du Pommier, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland.
The statutory Procedure for selecting the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is below. The Member Parliaments will elect the new Secretary General through a secret ballot at the 217th session of the Governing Council in March 2026.
Functions
Under the supervision of the Executive Committee, the Secretary General manages the Inter‑Parliamentary Union and is accountable for the management of the Organization to the Governing Council.
He/she shall carry out the functions vested in the post by the Organization’s Statutes and Rules or otherwise delegated by the IPU governing bodies. In particular, the Secretary General shall:
- Facilitate the work of the Member Parliaments of the Organization in the framework of its annual programme of activities;
- Ensure that the Organization and its statutory organs function well and that Member Parliaments are in a position to participate effectively in their activities;
- Ensure that the Statutes and Rules of the Organization are properly enforced and provide legal advice on their correct interpretation;
- Prepare proposals for the programme of work and the budget and be responsible for their implementation;
- Mobilize resources necessary for the functioning of the Organization;
- Make sure that the Inter-Parliamentary Union is represented at major regional and international conferences, foreseen as part of IPU activities;
- Liaise with regional and international organizations with a view to strengthening cooperation;
- Manage the Secretariat and resources of the Organization;
- Disseminate information on the Organization and its work.
Skills
Candidates shall possess leadership and negotiating skills.
They shall be fully committed to the values of democracy, human rights, gender equality and to parliamentary institutions, as well as to the principles of international cooperation.
They shall be skilled in diplomacy and able to work in a multicultural environment.
Their moral authority shall be beyond reproach and they shall be able to lead by example and create a team spirit.
They shall ensure sound financial management of the Organization and exercise budgetary control.
They shall have a high sense of responsibility and show political neutrality coupled with initiative and dynamism.
Qualifications
Candidates shall possess a minimum of fifteen years’ working experience at a progressively higher level of responsibility; part of their experience shall be in relation to knowledge of activities and processes of national parliaments or international parliamentary assemblies. Through their experience they shall be familiar with human resources management and with managing a budget.
They shall be knowledgeable about constitutional law and constitutional matters.
A solid knowledge of international relations, multilateral institutions and international organizations will be highly valued.
Education
They shall have completed a university degree and possess a post-graduate degree or equivalent experience.
Languages
They shall have a very sound knowledge of the two official languages of the Organization – English and French – and if possible, good knowledge of one of the two other working languages – Arabic and Spanish.
Minimum criteria for the post of Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Fifteen years’ working experience
Possession of a post-graduate university degree or its equivalent
Very sound knowledge of the two official languages of the Organization, English and French
PROCEDURE FOR SELECTING THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
(Extract of the IPU Statutes and Rules)
Vacancy announcement
The selection process for the post of Secretary General will commence fifteen months before the expiry of the current term of the Secretary General.
A vacancy announcement containing a description of the functions of the Secretary General and the skills and qualifications required of candidates will at that time be circulated to all Member Parliaments of the IPU.
The announcement will also be placed on IPU’s website and shared with the United Nations system. All parliaments will be invited to publicize the announcement in the manner they deem fit.
At the same time as it finalizes the vacancy announcement, the Executive Committee will agree on a set of minimum requirements that have to be met by candidates in order to be retained during the initial selection process.
Presentation of candidatures
Candidatures can be submitted by the candidates themselves or by one or more Member Parliaments of the IPU.
Candidatures shall be submitted within a period of four months from the date of the official vacancy announcement.
Each candidature shall be submitted in one of the two working languages of the IPU – English and French – and shall consist of a letter of motivation accompanied by a curriculum vitae.
Each application will be received in confidence and recorded by the Director of Support Services, who will act as registrar and will also respond to enquiries from candidates.
Shortlisting of candidates
At the end of the period for presenting candidatures, the President of the IPU, assisted by the Registrar, will examine all candidatures to ensure that they meet the minimum requirements for the post contained in the vacancy announcement. Any candidate who does not meet these requirements will be eliminated from the process.
The complete documentation submitted by all candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be reviewed by the President and Vice-President of the IPU who will together draw up an initial shortlist consisting of the twenty best qualified candidates.
The complete documentation of these candidates will be shared with each member of the IPU Executive Committee together with a report from the President on the conduct and outcome of the pre-selection procedure.
After studying the candidatures, each member of the Committee will indicate up to a maximum of five candidates which he or she proposes to maintain on the shortlist.
The Committee members will communicate their preferences to the Secretariat through a confidential procedure within a month of receiving the documentation.
The five candidates who receive the largest number of preferences will be shortlisted.
Interviews of selected candidates
The five shortlisted candidates will be invited to the Assembly where the final selection will take place.
The Executive Committee will devote one extra day during that Assembly to interviewing the candidates. Each candidate will be interviewed for an equal length of time. They will be invited to present their candidature for ten minutes and will then take questions from the members.
Before starting the interviews, the Executive Committee will have agreed upon a set of questions which will be addressed to all candidates. Members of the Executive Committee will also be able to address follow up questions to the candidates as well as questions relating to the candidate’s individual presentations.
After the interviews the members of the Executive Committee will exchange views on the candidatures. They will seek to determine if one or more of the candidates can be excluded at this stage of the procedure on the grounds that they either clearly do not meet the requirements of the post or fail to muster sufficiently wide support. To this end the Executive Committee may resort to straw polls or similar techniques.
At the end of its deliberations the Executive Committee will forward two or more candidatures for consideration by the IPU membership present at the Assembly.
Presentation of candidatures during the Assembly
Each candidate retained by the Executive Committee will have equal opportunities to present his/her candidature to each of the geopolitical groups, in accordance with procedures set by them.
The candidates will also be heard by the Forum of Women Parliamentarians, in accordance with a procedure determined by its Bureau.
The candidates will present their candidature during the last sitting of the Governing Council. They will each be given five minutes for this purpose.
Election
The Governing Council will elect the Secretary General by secret ballot.
For the purpose of identifying the candidate most capable of securing a broad if not all-inclusive consensus among the Member Parliaments, the Governing Council will elect the Secretary General with an absolute majority of the votes cast, as per Council Rule 35.1(b).
If there are more than two candidates and none receives the required majority in the first round of voting, the candidate who received the least support will be eliminated and a new round of voting held.
This procedure will be repeated until such time as one candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes cast.
The winning candidate will be appointed by the Governing Council for a four-year term.
