With just one day to go before nominations close for the next head of the IMF, the African Union said on Thursday it would like to see a non-European in the position, preferably an African. The AU has not put forth a name for their preferred candidate to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn who stepped down last month as managing director of the International Monetary Fund to fight sexual assault charges.
South Africa's former finance minister Trevor Manuel has been seen as a possible candidate but he has not formally been nominated. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is front-runner in the race but Colombia on Wednesday was the first major Latin American country publicly to back Mexico's central bank chief Agustin Carstens for the job, saying a dozen other countries from the region also supported his candidacy. Emerging economies would like a candidate from their group to head the fund but have not rallied behind one nominee.