Christine Lagarde launched her campaign for a second term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund on Friday with ringing endorsements from a host of major economies that looked past a court case against her in her native France. The former French finance minister who trained as a lawyer has no obvious challengers and has long been open to serving another five-year term. Britain and France backed her publicly on Thursday. Others, including Germany, joined in after her announcement.
"I am candidate for a new mandate. I was honoured to receive from the start of the process the backing of France, Britain, Germany, China, Korea," Lagarde, 60, told France 2 television in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew stopped short of a formal endorsement, but appeared to suggest Washington wanted her to stay in the role.
"I have a very close working relationship with Christine Lagarde," Lew said. "I have the highest regard for her. I think she's done a great job. I look forward to continuing working with her." The early endorsements from such powerful economies may act as a disincentive for others to apply and mute any talk of her legal difficulties disqualifying her. Lagarde has been dogged off-and-on since her initial appointment in 2011 for her role in a long-running business scandal while she was France's finance minister.