In a close vote, Brazilian Leticia Carvalho was elected as the new Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority.
The result is clear: with a vote of 79 to 34, the 113 delegates expressed their desire for a change at the head of the agency. There were no abstentions and no invalid votes. 55 delegations were absent.
This is a real shock for the participants, especially as they had expected a very close result. Michael Lodge, a British lawyer, is running for this position for the third time, but has not even received the support of Great Britain.
As recently as Thursday, there was talk that there would be no direct vote, but rather an “indicative” one. Once a result was available, it was agreed that the loser would have to withdraw his or her candidacy and the winner would then be confirmed by acclamation.
This means a change of direction for the future course of the ISA: Leticia Carvalho is an oceanographer and sees not only the commercial side of deep-sea mining, but also its dangers. Her current actions have been accused of several inconsistencies and of being too close to the mining industry.
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