Two men are battling for the position Japanese ambassador Yukiya Amano, 61, and Abdul Samad Minty, 69, of South Africa
– By April Murelio –
The UN atomic watchdog convenes today for a special two-day meeting to choose who will replace Mohamed El Baradei as its chief when he steps down in November.
Two men are battling for the position Japanese ambassador Yukiya Amano, 61, and Abdul Samad Minty, 69, of South Africa. And diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency say that Amano, favoured by industrialised Western states, is the front-runner.
But it is still by no means certain that he will be able to garner sufficient votes to secure the two-thirds majority needed to win, the diplomats added. Amano may be just one or two votes short of the 24 votes needed, while Minty can count on five or six votes. Six or seven countries are still undecided or are not prepared to say who they will vote for, diplomats familiar with the consultations said.
Tere are 35 votes in all, one for each country on the IAEA's board of governors. In a closed-door session, known as the "selection stage", on Thursday, up to three informal rounds of voting, each a secret ballot, are held. If one of the candidates secures the necessary two-thirds, then the board will move on Friday to the so-called "appointment stage", where the board chairman proposes the candidate for appointment by the board.
The appointment is then formally approved by the IAEA's general conference in September.