European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva was passed over by her native Bulgaria for a nomination to top UN job | NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images Eastern Europe bungles shot at top UN job Whispering campaign throws up a possible late entry candidate in Kristalina Georgieva.

WASHINGTON — Eastern Europe may be losing its early claim on the United Nations’ top job, after an initial crop of candidates from that part of the Continent failed to impress in the early stages of the year-long campaign, say diplomats and U.N. observers.

The region was widely seen as having an edge going into the race to succeed U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon next year, thanks in part to Russia’s desire to see a part of Europe that has never held the post take a turn at the top of the 70-year-old institution.

In a significant shift, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the U.N., Matthew Rycroft, told a private late-April meeting of EU ambassadors that if Eastern Europe governments are serious about securing the post for one of their own, they’re going to have to nominate some new candidates, according to two diplomats from EU delegations who were in the room.

A spokesman from the U.K. mission to the U.N. in New York declined to comment about his private comments.

Opportunity fumbled

As one of the five veto-carrying member of the security council, opposition from the U.K. could kill a candidate's chances of becoming Secretary General, so some diplomats were taken aback by the ambassador's frank assessment. “You could take it as a pretty strong marker that one of the P5 and an EU country would say that,” one of the EU diplomats who was in the room said.

“There’s a feeling among some Eastern Europeans that our group might lose this opportunity,” said one senior Eastern European diplomat.

“If the Eastern Europeans were well coordinated, they'd get into a huddle now, work out who has the best chance of winning and sacrifice the weaker candidates,” said Richard Gowan, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who follows the U.N. closely. “But they are not well coordinated so they won't.”

U.N. Development Program administrator Helen Clarke of New Zealand and former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres of Portugal were widely seen as outperforming the seven Eastern European candidates at public hearings held by the United Nations General Assembly last month, according to more than a half dozen diplomats and close followers of the U.N. in New York and Washington. The diplomats all spoke with POLITICO on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the process.

Last week, Mogens Lykketoft, the president of the U.N. General Assembly, said there would be a second round of hearings on June 7 in New York.

More candidates are expected to jump into the fray in the coming weeks, including Argentine Foreign Minister Susanna Malcorra, who has been making the rounds and talking with U.N. Security Council members. Last week she met with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond in London.

And Eastern Europe will get another candidate soon, if Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák enters the race, as expected.

'Rumors won't die'

The desire in many governments for a woman as Secretary General is also strong, and the unsettled field is feeding a whispering campaign about a possible late entry from another high-profile Eastern European popular in London, Brussels and Washington: Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria.

Georgieva was earlier seen as a prime contender for the Secretary General spot, but was bested for Bulgaria’s nomination by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova who had been widely considered a favorite for the post. Under the new rules of the U.N. nominating process, designed to promote transparency, each country can nominate one candidate.

Bokova’s candidacy took a hit during the April hearings when the Daily Mail and Foreign Policy magazine published details of how the British ambassador to UNESCO helped to launch an investigation into hiring practices at the organization.

Getting Georgieva into the race would either require Bulgaria to revoke Bokova’s nomination — or for another country to nominate her, which is allowed.

In an interview with the U.K’s Sunday Times on May 15, Georgieva criticized the inefficiency of U.N.’s aid programs, and the British paper reported that a group of Central and Eastern European countries are gearing up to nominate the former World Bank administrator.

A source with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO that several countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Albania, have reached out to Georgieva’s intermediaries. The source didn’t specify if representatives of these countries had spoken with her directly or when a potential nomination might occur.

The source said the U.K. is a big fan of Georgieva and sees her experience at the World Bank, the European Commission and as chair of a U.N. panel on humanitarian financing as a plus in terms of pushing through a restructuring of the 70-year-old institution.

As one diplomat said of Georgieva: “The rumors won’t die.”

Besides Bokova, the Eastern European contingent in the Secretary General race includes former Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremić, former Macedonian foreign minister Srgjan Kerim, former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusić, former Moldovan foreign minister Natalia Gherman, Slovenian ex-president Danilo Türk, and Montenegro’s deputy prime minister, Igor Lukšić.

The Slovakian government, meanwhile, is in a degree of disarray after the country’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was hospitalized for serious heart problems, only returning to work at the beginning of this month. Lajčák, the foreign minister, has been preparing for his country to take over the EU presidency, but will join the race soon, according to diplomatic sources.