Most countries have missions in Vienna – or nearby – who deal with things like this straw vote, on the instructions of their governments. It is just part of their daily business and involves no extra expenditure.

Where does the UN spend much money on this? And remember it has been 12 years since it was last done anyway!!! Hardly an extravagance. This is not the US election, after all. The UN itself doesn't spend money lobbying!

Of course, the government of a particular candidate might spend a lot of money, and certainly this has been the case in this particular election with one particular candidate. That is their choice and only their taxpayers have a right to complain about waste of money.

However, mostly, it is very low key and the lobbying is done by the missions on the behalf of their country's candidate.

I have no experience with the Agency since my husband left in 1992, it's true. Nepotism? It must have changed somewhat. I think a number of factors came into play back then, and I would be surprised if it had changed much. Regional diversity was considered very, very important. There was a deliberate attempt to increase the number of women in the higher professional and technical positions. Often preference was given to people from poorer countries, and so on. Language skills are a plus.

As with most organizations, certainly who you know is important, not so much because of "nepotism" but because a recommendation from someone who knows what you are capable of is worth its weight in gold. Think about it. If you were the head of a department and had 10 applications, all from people with similar qualifications, in front of you. How do you tell them apart? On paper they all look good. Ah, but one comes with a glowing recommendation from someone you respect who works in the agency, or perhaps one of the candidates is someone you have personally seen at work back in his own country and you saw he did a good job – who would you choose?

My husband was chosen for the post of DDG by Dr Hans Blix, the then DG, whom he did not know. I believe it was on the recommendation of several people – who had worked with my husband over the years on Agency matters at regional and local level and who been impressed with his hard work and organizational skills – that Dr Blix decided to take him on. Is that nepotism?