DOHA — Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Thursday reelected Doreen Bogdan Martin of the United States to serve a second four year term as Secretary General of the United Nations specialized agency for digital technologies. Convening in the Qatari capital during the Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 (PP 26) at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, delegates cast 164 votes out of 173 voting Member States in favor of Bogdan Martin during the first and final round of balloting, surpassing the required majority of 83 votes as the union selects its senior executive leadership to oversee global strategy and budgets over the next four years.
Expressing gratitude for the renewed confidence of Member States following her initial election in 2022, Bogdan Martin noted that the global technology landscape has transformed dramatically over the past four years and will accelerate even faster ahead, affirming that the union’s core mandate is ensuring technological progress benefits humanity universally, particularly the 2 billion people worldwide who remain unconnected. Carrying more than three decades of experience in international telecommunications policy, Bogdan Martin assumed office as ITU Secretary General in January 2023 after serving as Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau from 2018 to 2022, making history as the first woman elected to hold both positions.
Throughout her inaugural term, the ITU advanced universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation amid rapid breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, the commercial scaling of space based telecommunications constellations, and urgent global imperatives to harden digital infrastructure resilience. During this period, the agency’s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition surpassed $120 billion in global connectivity commitments, while institutional engagement expanded across industry, academia, and civil society to exceed 1,000 participating companies, universities, research institutes, and organizations alongside the union’s 194 Member States, supported internally by a comprehensive organizational modernization program.
Entering her second mandate, Bogdan Martin has outlined strategic priorities centered on connecting the 2 billion citizens who remain offline, ensuring emerging frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence generate inclusive economic opportunities, fortifying global cybersecurity and network resilience, and scaling international digital skills programs. Internally, she has pledged to advance institutional reforms to keep the 1865 founded agency agile, transparent, and responsive to the evolving requirements of its global membership across radio spectrum coordination, satellite orbital governance, and international technical standardization.
As the supreme decision making body of the union running in Doha through November 27, PP 26 will now proceed to elect the Deputy Secretary General alongside the Directors of the Radiocommunication Bureau, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, and Telecommunication Development Bureau. Those executive ballots will be followed by elections for the 12 member Radio Regulations Board and regional seats across the 48 seat ITU Council, which governs the organization between quadrennial Plenipotentiary Conferences while finalizing the union’s multi year strategic and financial frameworks.
