New York, Dhu-AlQa'dah 02, 1437, August 05, 2016, SPA -- Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres remained the top candidate for the position of UN secretary general after the UN Security Council's second round of secret straw polls, UN diplomats said on Friday, according to dpa. Guterres, who was on top of the list in the first round of polling last month, received 11 encouraging and two discouraging votes from the 15-member council tasked with selecting the next UN chief. Two countries expressed no opinion on Guterres' candidacy. Guterres was followed by Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra and former Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, who both got eight encouraging votes, UN diplomats said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the straw polls were supposed to be confidential. Former Slovenian president Danilo Turk and Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, the current director general of UNESCO, each received seven approving votes. Bokova got seven discouraging votes, while Turk received five. --SPA 22:28 LOCAL TIME 19:28 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w