After Turkey’s opposition to the nomination of former Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik for the post of Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe (OSCE), Lithuania, which holds the rotating chairmanship in the organization, has nominated head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Italy's Lamberto Zannier to the post.

The election requires a consensus among members, while Lithuania is trying to reach an agreement before Frenchman Marc Perrin de Brichambaut’s second three-year term as OSCE secretary-general ends June 30.

Other candidates included Portugal’s Joao Soares, the former head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Turkish diplomat Ersin Ercin.