Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and Venezuela candidates will be participating next week in the most disputed election ever to name the Inter American Development Bank, IDB, next president.
Whoever is finally chosen to replace outgoing Uruguayan Enrique Iglesias needs not only a strong knowledge of economics and finance, but as much charisma and leadership.
The strongest hopefuls are Colombian Ambassador in Washington Luis Alberto Moreno and João Sayad from Brazil and number three in the IDB, “but nothing is definite yet, and everybody is speculating,” said an IDB source.
The registry of candidates is closed and the election scheduled for next Wednesday July 27, but most country members have kept a prudent silence, including Washington, which given its share holdings has a 30% vote representation.
Nevertheless analysts believe Washington would like to see Mr. Moreno commanding Latinamerica most important multilateral development institution.
Another candidate is Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from Peru, a knowledgeable banker with great experience in the region, who favors the Washington Consensus, open market policies and promoting the private sector.
However he’s not attractive for the South American center left governments.
Nicaragua’s Central Bank president Mario Alonso could collect Central American votes in the first poll, but is not expected to advance much further.
The last minute registry of Venezuelan candidate José Antonio Rojas, (former Finance minister and former delegate before IDB) surprised most countries and could be an obstacle for Mr. Moreno and Mr. Sayad.
“Colombia could see the Central American votes change to Venezuela (which subsidizes oil to the area), and Brazil’s left leaning attraction will be lost to the Venezuelan candidate”, indicated reliable IDB sources in Washington.
Some Latinamerican observers feel the nomination process for the IDB presidency might turn into a re-edition of the Organization of American States Secretary General dispute, which demanded much time, patience and negotiation before reaching a lame unanimity.
This article appeared originally in Mercopress – www.mercopress.com.