The results from Thursday's poll dealt a blow to a Jordanian prince's ambitions to become the next UN secretary-general, ranking him fourth among five candidates. Otherwise, the survey echoed a similar straw poll held in August.

The candidates from South Korea and India did the best, while the two from Thailand and Sri Lanka still trailed, China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

The secret poll only gives a hint of how the candidates might fare in formal elections later this year. It is largely meant to indicate whether they should remain in the race, and many diplomats say the person who will become the eighth secretary-general in the United Nations' 60-year history has likely not yet come forward.

Most members states generally agree that the next secretary-general should come from Asia, part of a tradition to rotate the job between regions. But US Ambassador John Bolton has argued that the job should go to the best qualified candidate _ regardless of nationality.

The council has not decided when to hold its final vote to choose a secretary-general, though UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself was elected on Dec. 13, 1996, just two weeks before he was to take office.

Associated Press reported that Greece's UN Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis said Thursday that council members would have to decide what to do at their next meeting on the race on Sept. 28. The possibilties include another straw poll or a final vote.

In the informal poll, the 15 council nations checked one of three boxes for each candidate : ``Encourage,'' ``discourage,'' and ``no opinion.''

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was first, with 14 ``encourage'' and one ``discourage.'' India's Shashi Tharoor, UN undersecretary-general or public affairs, was next, with 10 ``encourage,'' three ``discourage'' and one ``no opinion.''

Those results were nearly the same as the August poll.

AP said Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai retained the third spot, with nine positive votes, three negative and three ``no opinion,'' while Jordan's UN Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein came in fourth with only six positive votes against four negatives and five ``no opinion.'' UN disarmament chief Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka was last, with only three votes in favor, five against and seven ``no opinion'' votes.

A ``no'' vote from one of the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members sinks a candidacy.

Candidates can come forward until the last minute, and the final vote is not expected until the fall.

``We remain committed to making a decision on the next secretary-general by the end of September or early October and we will continue to press ahead in that direction,'' US Ambassador John Bolton said in a statement.