As part of ongoing informal consultations related to the appointment process, the IAEA Board of Governors today conducted a straw poll on the four candidates that have been nominated for the post of Director General.
The candidates are, in alphabetical order: Cornel Feruta of Romania; Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina; Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso; and Marta Ziakova of Slovakia.
The results of the straw poll were, in alphabetical order: Mr Feruta, 14 votes; Mr Grossi, 15 votes; Mr Zerbo, four votes; and Ms Ziakova, no votes.
With a view to facilitating consensus, the Board may conduct informal straw polls during consultations on the appointment of a new Director General. Straw polls give the Board a reading of the support enjoyed by the different candidates and are non-binding.
The four candidates were nominated by their governments in accordance with the procedures for appointing a Director General agreed by the Board on 1 August after the passing of Director General Yukiya Amano.
The Board expects to appoint a Director General in October and envisages that the person appointed will assume office no later than 1 January 2020.
The 35-member IAEA Board of Governors appoints the new Director General for a term of four years. Its decision will be submitted for approval to the IAEA General Conference, which consists of representatives of all 171 Member States.
Mr Amano was the IAEA's fifth Director General. He was first appointed to the office effective December 2009 and reappointed in 2013 and 2017. He passed away in July 2019. He followed Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General from 1997 to 2009; Hans Blix, Director General from 1981 to 1997; Sigvard Eklund, Director General from 1961 to 1981; and William Sterling Cole, Director General from 1957 to 1961.
