From Reuters: see here for full article. (Sylvia Westall, May 13).
Race to Lead IAEA Has No Clear Front-Runner, Diplomats Say
Thursday, May 14, 2009
“As of now, on their own, if you put any one name of these five on the ballot, I don’t think any could get 24 votes. I don’t see any personality among these five now who exerts an appeal across the political divide in the board,” said one high-level diplomat from a developing nation, likely referring to a split between Western nations and developing countries that emerged in the first effort to select a replacement for three-term IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei…
“I don’t see any of the five bridging the North-South divide. … The winner must show he can count on some support outside his natural grouping,” according to a European Union diplomat. “A moderate G-77 (group of developing nations) candidate might be best placed, but the most propitious ones were not nominated.”
(My bold italics)
Yeah, well I could have told ’em that. Sigh.
Does that mean they might think again? Re nominations I mean.
There are 5 candidates for this second round of voting. If none of them get the required two-thirds majority, who knows what will happen next? I certainly don’t.
Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they can’t and will come back to Noramly after all.
I hope they reconsider Noramly. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, too!
I’ve checked again and it appears that if there is a deadlock in the 2nd round again, the slate becomes clean and new nominations are then invited.
But according to the rules, candidates who didn’t make it in the earlier 2 rounds are eligible to be re-nominated.
There is to be a straw vote on 9th June. Then a proper vote mid-June. At the moment it looks as if there might well be another impasse, and it could well stay that way, until they get a candidate – my husband being one such or so I believe – who would appeal to both the developed and the developing world.
However, Noramly remains not a contender for as long as Malaysia prefers to support Japan, which will doubtless be to the end. (Malaysia sees no benefit in having their own national in such a post, but apparently sees considerable benefit in supporting Japan.)
My own personal opinion is that Japan will keep on putting their own candidate forward as long as they possibly can. At the moment, he appears to be the most committed candidate, and the best prepared, plus having his country fully behind him, prepared to do a great deal to help him win.
I am watching the whole thing with fascinated interest actually!