IMF chief rivals to be named soon

Washington - The International Monetary Fund will publish the names of the candidates seeking to become the next IMF managing director by June 17, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Nominations opened on Monday for the top job at the Washington-based institution after Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned last week to face sexual assault charges that he denies. The nominating period closes on June 10.

"If there are four or more candidates, there would be a shortlist to produce three in the period from June 10 to June 17," IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said at a news conference at IMF headquarters in Washington on Friday.

The selection of the new IMF chief is expected to be announced by June 30.

Atkinson pointed out that this selection process differs from previous ones in that all 187 member nations may nominate a candidate, whereas before nominations came only from the 24 members of the executive board.

By tradition, a European - most often from France - has led the IMF since its beginning in 1945, while the United States supplied the president of the World Bank.

There are two candidates officially declared in the race so far: Agustin Carstens, Mexico's central bank chief, and Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister.

Another candidate, Grigory Marchenko, the head of Kazakhstan's central bank, is backed by Russia and other ex-Soviet states but has not been officially declared.

The executive board, whose members represent a country or a group of countries, is aiming to select the next chief by consensus, but it could resort to a vote.

In that case, Atkinson said directors, whose votes are weighted based on contributions to the Fund, could not split their votes.

"If there were an executive director who had a constituency which included countries which had a different view, it would be up to that executive director to work out with their constituency, and with their own conscience, which way to cast the votes that are carried by that chair."

The director from Mexico, which backs Carstens, represents six Latin American countries but also eurozone member Spain.