Vote on IAEA chief inconclusive after first three rounds

The race for the top job at the UN atomic agency remained open after the first three rounds of voting Thursday, with neither of the two candidates able to secure a convincing lead. Japanese candidate, Yukiya Amano, 61, had previously been seen as the front-runner to take over from Mohamed ElBaradei, who has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency for the past 12 years.
But Amano failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority and even lost ground to rival Abdul Samad Minty, 69, from South Africa as the voting process progressed. Diplomats suggested the second stage of voting on Friday could prove similarly inconclusive and that would mean the race would have to be opened up to new candidates.
"A stalemate is starting to look increasingly likely," said one western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Prior to the secret ballots on Thursday, Amano, favoured by Western nations, had been believed to be only one or two votes short of the two-thirds majority. But Minty, seen as the favourite candidate of developing nations, "did better than expected," another diplomat said, suggesting that the lack of a clear winner reflected the deep divisions between industrialised and developing countries on the 35-member board. The complicated election process is now set to move into its second phase on Friday.
In order to win, a candidate has to secure at least 24 votes from a total 35 on the board, or one for each country on the board of governors. Amano won 21 votes in the first round, but then saw his lead slip, securing only 20 votes in the second and third rounds. Minty initially won 14 votes but saw his support rise to 15 votes in rounds two and three. There were no abstentions.
"Neither (candidate) was able to secure the two-thirds majority required" in any of the three rounds, Algerian ambassador Taous Feroukhi told reporters. On Friday, the board will first determine the so-called "leading candidate" on the basis of a simple majority. Member states will then proceed to vote on the leading candidate alone.