The 193 United Nations member states of the General Assembly yesterday elected Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as the next Secretary-General of the U.N.

Last week the U.N. Security Council selected Guterres and recommended him to the General Assembly for endorsement after conducting informal polls.

Guterres, a 67-year-old socialist politician, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995-2002 and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005-2015. 

As the UN’s refugee chief, Guterres persistently appealed to the conscience of the international community over the worst refugee crisis since the World War II, and he vowed to carry on being a spokesman for the downtrodden if he became UN secretary general.

Mr. Guterres topped all six polls, which included a total of 13 candidates -- seven women and six men.

He told the BBC that ending the civil war in Syria would be his biggest challenge.

He will succeed the current secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who was appointed in 2006 and will leave the post at the end of this year.

The new secretary-general will assume the role in January 2017 and will serve a five year term, which can be renewed by U.N. member states for an additional five years.

Fox News reports that Guterres' selection disappointed many who had campaigned for the first woman or the first representative from an Eastern European country to lead the world body, but diplomats stressed they were voting for the best candidate regardless of other criteria.

The secretary-general manages a staff of 44,000 people in addition to more than 100,000 peacekeepers. The position's responsibilities include dealing with issues such as human rights, refugees and climate change as well as fund raising for the world body's various campaigns.