Controversy heats up as two Europeans vying to lead IMF

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WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (AFP): In a race mired in controversy, two Europeans are vying to become the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and lead the battle in introducing wide-ranging reforms.
For weeks the European Union's candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, had been the sole candidate to replace Spain's Rodrigo Rato at the head of the 63-year-old global financial institution.
But on August 22, Russia threw a spanner into the works by putting up Josef Tosovsky, a former Czech prime minister and central bank chief, as its candidate, with the deadline for nominations closing at midnight Friday (0400 GMT Saturday).
The IMF executive board, in a statement late Friday, said it would consider the nominations of Strauss-Kahn and Tosovsky "on the basis of their professional record and qualifications" and plans to interview them in September.
"The executive board has received the nominations of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Josef Tosovsky for the position of IMF managing director, and will now begin the formal selection process. The deadline for nominations expired on August 31," the statement said.
"During the coming month, the executive board intends to interview the candidates in Washington DC and, thereafter, meet to discuss the strengths of the candidates and make a selection."
Russia says it put up a candidate in part to contest the unwritten rule that Europe traditionally chooses the managing director of the IMF and the United States picks the head of the World Bank.
"Not everyone agrees with this," Foreign Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "It's unfair to leading countries in the world."
But both the Europeans have hit potholes in recent days: Strauss-Kahn on his merits, Tosovsky on his communist past and Russian sponsorship. In a scathing editorial Tuesday, the Financial Times condemned the EU's "carve-up" in selecting Strauss-Kahn, describing him as "a man who is neither qualified nor legitimate."
The influential British business newspaper said only those who wanted the IMF "to be irrelevant" could applaud the 27-nation bloc's decision.
The IMF, in announcing the search for Rato's successor, stressed the winning candidate could be a national of "any" of its 185 member countries and pledged a transparent process based on merit.
Developing countries in particular had called for an open selection for the head of the IMF and its sister institution the World Bank and have pushed for greater weight at the Washington-based bodies.